






















































































































































0 



























Machine Made Legislation 

.. aP" 

BY M. Clyde Kelly 

Member of Pennsylvania Legislature 





Illustrated by ALBERT DEITRICH 










Copyright 1912 by M. CLYDE KELLY 


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Cl A 3 2 8 0 l 9 

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IDebfcatfon 


To all the host of latter day Crusaders in 
Pennsylvania, who, with only the consciousness 
of Right and red blooded courage of their own 
conviction, have wielded blades as bright as ever 
flashed defiance in the face of Wrong: To those 
who have joyously risked position and money: To 
those who have given lavishly of their time and 
efforts to secure that goal of true patriots—Good 
Government: To those he has known by the 
magic name of Friend and those he has known 
only as fellow fighters in the cause of political 
and social justice, this book is affectionately dedi¬ 
cated by the author. 


Braddock, Pa., July, 1912. 


















































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Table of Contents 


Page 

FOREWORD.11 

CHAPTER I. The Constitution’s Description.19 

CHAPTER II. Rules That Gag and Throttle.24 

CHAPTER HI. A Government of The Gavel.32 

CHAPTER IV. Committees and What They Commit.38 

CHAPTER V. King Caucus In Action.44 

CHAPTER VI. The Whip and Noiseless Speaking.. ..51 

CHAPTER VII. Log Rolling And Compromise.59 

CHAPTER VHI. The Senatorial Graveyard..64 

CHAPTER IX. Getting Things Done By Commission.70 

CHAPTER X. The Dollar And The Man.77 

CHAPTER XI. Stealth And Thuggery.83 

CHAPTER XII. How The People Foot The Bills.90 

CHAPTER XIII. The Appropriation Blackjack.96 

CHAPTER XIV. Padding The Payroll.103 

CHAPTER XV. Last Night Orgies.Ill 

CHAPTER XVI. The Treason of A Senator.117 

CHAPTER XVII. A New Declaration of 

Independence .124 

CHAPTER XVIII. Let The People Rule .132 

CHAPTER XIX. Trumpet Calls To Action.141 

CONCLUSION. 146 























M. Clyde Kelly 





























































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dforeworb 


“I loved my country, so as only they, 

Who love a mother fit to die for, may, 

I loved her old renown, her stainless fame, 

What better proof than that I loathed her shame” 

— Lowell. 


William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, first became 
interested in it through correspondence with friends in 
America. He was assured in glowing terms that the In¬ 
dian country on the west side of the Delaware “is most 
beautiful to look upon and wants only a wise people to 
render it, like ancient Canaan, the glory of the earth/’ 


Thus the very foundation of this great Commonwealth 


11 


is set in the jeweled fabric of a noble aspiration. An aspira¬ 
tion of a beautiful country, populated by a wise people and 
becoming the glory of the earth. 


“Wants only a wise people.” Ah, there is a depth of 
meaning in those words that includes all the philosophies of 
the world. What makes a state great and glorious? Does 
it depend upon its beauty of scenery, its teeming manufac¬ 
tures, its mines or mills or resources? Does it depend on 
its great business establishments, its rivers or its railroads, 
even its libraries and schools? 


“No, not these. They fill their place but they are only 
the representation not the reality. 

Not gold but only men can make a people great and 
strong. 

Men who for truth and honor’s sake, stand fast and 

suffer long, 

Brave men who work while others sleep, who dare while 

others fly, 

They build a great state’s pillars deep and lift them to 

the sky.” 


Ah, yes. Only a wise people can make Pennsylvania 
the glory of the earth. They must come from all corners, 
from Erie and Greene and Wayne and Chester and all the 


12 


counties between, for as a whole they must be wise to be 
truly deemed a wise people. 

We of this generation stand two centuries and more 
removed from that other day when William Penn dreamed 
his dream and saw his vision. Not yet have we reached 
the goal, not yet has the reality been put into his dream, 
the foundations under his air castles. Instead it beckons 
us on into the future, but the eternally hopeful fact is that 
we are following on. Slowly but surely the path is leading 
onward and upward. 

In the past, Pennsylvania has given much of her energy 
to commerce and industry and she has astonished the world 
in those realms of effort. She had almost forgotten the 
better part and in her negligence she shamed the earth with 
her folly. But today, her vision is becoming clearer. She 
is realizing her deplorable position politically and is earn¬ 
estly striving to better it. She is seeing that it is not riches 
so much as righteousness, not luxury but liberty, not chat¬ 
tels but character, not conquest but conduct, not popula¬ 
tion innumerable but people wise, that can ever make this 
beautiful state the glory of the earth. 

But a people to be wise must have knowledge of the 
truth. If they do not know what their representatives and 
officials are doing, whether they are serving them faith¬ 
fully or betraying their interests, they cannot govern wisely. 
Knowledge of the truth in regard to public officials and 
political conditions is a necessity upon which a popular 
government depends. 


13 


As a legislator at Harrisburg, I found a system at 
work which depended upon secrecy and concealment. I 
saw the destiny of legislative measures decided in the 
dark, in star chamber sessions, into which the public gaze 
did not penetrate. I saw gum-shoed and pussy-footed 
politicians betraying the rights of the people in dark and 
covert fashion. 

And seeing all this, I came to the conclusion that the 
very root of corruption in politics, the very heart of a 
“Machine” system of legislation is secrecy and conceal¬ 
ment. I can not find it in my heart to condemn people for 
not seeing in the dark. They have been kept in ignor¬ 
ance of conditions and evils have held sway and will con¬ 
tinue to flourish until the full light of day floods the secret 
places of political cabal and conspiracy. 

I believe that Publicity will cure the evils of “Machine” 
rule. As the germs of tuberculosis cannot live in the sun¬ 
light, neither can the germs of political corruption exist in 
the sunshine of full publicity. 

Some time ago I picked up a book by Dr. Oliver 
Wendell Holmes, containing a number of interesting na¬ 
ture studies. One chapter tells of the Lifting of the Stone. 
The stone was out in the field where it had lain, nobody 
knew how long, with a little fringe of grass around its 
edge. 

With a movement of the foot it was turned over and 


14 


* 


an odd revelation followed. Underneath were hideous, 
crawling, creatures, some of them horny shelled and others 
spread out like a flat pattern timekeeper; black, glossy 
crickets, with long filaments: motionless, slug like creatures, 
more horrible, perhaps, in their pulpy stillness than even 
in the infernal wriggle of maturity. 

“But,” says Dr. Holmes. “No sooner is the stone 
turned and the wholesome light of day let in upon this 
compressed and blinded community of creeping things, than 
all of them that enjoy the luxury of legs, and some of 
them have a good many, rush around wildly, butting each 
other and everything in the way and end in a general stam¬ 
pede for underground retreats not poisoned by the sun¬ 
shine. Next month, the grasses are growing on the site 
and blossoms cast their fragrance over the blighted place 
where the stone lay.” 

There is a meaning in this little incident, and to my 
mind there is no more important task than lifting the stone 
of error and wrong and letting the light in. We will ad¬ 
mit that such action means discomfort and annoyance to 
the black and crawling creatures that choose darkness rather 
than light, but the stone must be lifted and the light let 
in if the crushed and bleached grass is to grow, or if good 
seed is to bring forth good fruit on the site of barrenness 
and desolation. 

Therefore, my aim in writing this book, is to turn the 
flashlight upon actual conditions in the lawmaking system 


15 


of Pennsylvania and let the people know the truth. My 
whole theory of government may be summed up in the 
belief that the people form the sovereign power and that 
they should know every detail of the conduct of their gov¬ 
ernment and then assume the responsibility of that know¬ 
ledge. 

“Machine” rule in Pennsylvania has produced plague 
spots, hideous sores and malformations. When the ques¬ 
tion arises as to how these conditions may be remedied, 
the first necessity is to realize them fully. Like the surgeon 
who is to remove the cancer, a close examination and thor¬ 
ough knowledge is necessary before the operation can be 
attempted. 

For that reason, I am not attempting in this work to 
sugar-coat the truth, and to clothe disagreeable verities in 
the livery of a smile. I know the criticism which usually 
follows such action, but if telling the truth makes me liable 
to charges of pessimism and muckraking, I will be well 
content to endure them if I may only inspire those who 
read to investigate for themselves. 

One evening, I walked about the balcony of the mag¬ 
nificent Capitol building at Harrisburg. It is beautiful and 
imposing in spite of the fact that crime and corruption and 
perjury are cemented into its walls and leer out in its pol¬ 
ished marbles and glittering brasses. High above the gal¬ 
leries and emblazoned in gorgeous colors, I read the words, 
“That we may do the thing, that is truly wise and just, 


16 


that my God may make it the seed of a nation.” Those 
are the words of the prayer of William Penn for his Holy 
Experiment, Pennsylvania. As I read and reread the words, 
I could not help thinking of the sessions of the lawmaking 
body of the state, where things had been done that were 
anything but wise and just. Rather were they things that 
placed stains on the Keystone State, the state of the Liberty 
Bell, and made it a Commonwealth ashamed. Rather, things 
that make honest, patriotic, law abiding men and women 
hang their heads in shame, things that prove that men hold¬ 
ing high positions of state may be enemies within the for¬ 
tress, scourging the people and forming a deadly menace 
to the Commonwealth. 


Then, as I read the words again, I though of the man¬ 
hood of Pennsylvania’s citizenship. The thousands of men 
I had known personally to risk money and position in bat¬ 
tles for principle. The sterling integrity, the courage which 
never admits defeat, the unconquerable spirit that never con¬ 
siders any question settled until it is settled right. And 
as I thought of the men like that, in my own district, and 
over the entire state, there came to me the conviction that, 
after all, the people are supreme and they are individuals, 
they are you and I. The whole theory of Pennsylvania 
is directed to us, for Pennsylvania is only you and I. Its 
power, its ruggedness, its patriotism, its honor, its truth, 
its evils, its corruption, its “Machine” are after all, only 
you and I as individuals and we are responsible for them. 

With each of us knowing the truth and each of us 


17 


doing our part, then, and then only, shall we see a wise 
people and Pennsylvania the glory of the earth. With the 
hope that this book may have some small share in the en¬ 
lightenment of the people and the arousing of the public 
conscience to effective action, it is sent forth by its author. 


9 


18 


Chapter l 

THE CONSTITUTION'S DESCRIPTION. 

“They have turned earth upside down, says the foe, 
They have come to bring our town, wreck and woe. 

To their never ending cry, boldly here we make reply. 
Yes and No. 

Upside down the world has lain, many a year. 

We to turn it back again, now appear. 

Will ye, nill ye. We will do what at last no man shall 
rue. Have no fear.” — Byngham. 


The constitution of Pennsylvania declares that the “leg¬ 
islative power of this Commonwealth shall be vested in a 
General Assembly which shall consist of a Senate and a 
House of Representatives.’' 

This body, commonly called the Legislature is, consti¬ 
tutionally and theoretically, the lawmaking body of the State. 


19 


The House of Representatives is composed of two hun¬ 
dred and seven members, elected from districts as pre¬ 
scribed by the Legislature. The Senate is composed of fifty 
members, elected from as many Senatorial districts. The 
Representatives are elected for a term of two years, while 
the Senators serve for twice that period. 

It is the duty of the General Assembly to act upon 
legislation, and it may pass laws upon a multitude of sub¬ 
jects, the only ones excepted being specifically described in 
the state constitution, or the constitution of the United 
States. Besides this general duty, the General Assembly 
elects two United States Senators, who are elected for terms 
-of six years each. This duty will devolve upon the legis¬ 
lative body at the session of 1915 , when a successor to Sen¬ 
ator Penrose is to be chosen, unless that consummation de¬ 
voutly to be wished—direct election by the people—shall 
have become a reality prior to that time. In that case, it 
may be safely assured that another individual will don the 
“toga” now worn by the redoubtable “Boss” from Phila¬ 
delphia. Senator Oliver’s term of office expires in 1917 , 
the distance ahead forming a strong argument for shorter 
tenure of office. 

The General Assembly also divides the state into rep¬ 
resentative and senatorial and judicial and congressional 
districts. This is supposed to be done immediately after 
the United States census is taken, but considerable latitude 
in this regard is the rule. The state was last redistricted 
five years after the 1900 census. 




20 


It is further the duty of the General Assembly to fix 
the number, duties and compensation of state, county and 
township officials, it thus entering intimately upon the gov¬ 
ernment of the smallest units of the state. It also appro¬ 
priates money, raises revenue and considers and submits 
proposed amendments to the constitution. 

The sessions of the Legislature are held every two 
years, in the odd year. It is provided by the constitution 
that it shall meet at 12 o’clock, noon, on the first Tuesday 
in January. There is no limit as to the length of the 
term, which is generally four or five months. This is the 
regular session, but special sessions may be called at any 
time by the Governor. The Senate may be called in special 
session alone but the House of Representatives can only 
be called in conjunction with the Senate. 

Both Senators and Representatives receive the same 
compensation, $1,500 per regular session, and $500 for 
the special session regardless of the length of the term. 
Besides the regular salaries, there are the “perks,” consist¬ 
ing of $50 worth of stationery, $100 for postage stamps 
and a “prize box” containing a number of trinkets, includ¬ 
ing a half-dozen corkscrews. 

This “prize box” is given without official sanction but 
is a sacred custom, and is presumably supposed to impart 
good fellowship and that self-satisfied feeling which comes 
with getting something for nothing. It contains knives, 
pocketbooks, note books, card cases, and other nicknacks 


21 


of similar character, purchased from some favored dealer 
at the highest prevailing prices. 


It must not be forgotten also that mileage is paid at 
the rate of twenty cents per mile each way. This little 
custom is either a survival of the days of the stage coach, 
when transportation was rather more expensive, or a look 
ahead to the “taxicab” rate of traveling. 


The constitution provides the method for passing leg¬ 
islation. Bills may originate in either house, with the ex¬ 
ception of revenue bills, which must originate in the House 
of Representatives. No bill is considered unless it has been 
referred to a committee, returned to the house from com¬ 
mittee and printed. The bills are required to be read on 
three different days by the clerk. Amendments are made 
on second reading, and the bill again printed for the use 
of members. After the third reading, the bill is called for 
final passage and the vote taken by roll call. The yeas and 
nays must be recorded and a majority of all the members 
is necessary to pass all bills except appropriation measures, 
which require a two-thirds majority. 


After passing both houses, the measure goes to the 
Governor. If signed by him, it becomes a law immediately. 
If he vetoes it, the measure is returned to the house in 
which it originated, together with the objections of the 
Governor. If two-thirds of all the members vote for the 
measure on roll call, it becomes a law over the Governor’s 


22 


veto. In case the Governor does not return the bill within 
ten days after it has been presented to him it becomes a law 
without his signature. At the end of the session, the Gov¬ 
ernor has thirty days in which to veto or sign the bills 
presented to him in the rush of the closing hours of the 
session. 

While the Senate and the House of Representatives 
have, in the main, the same powers, the Senate has the added 
power of rejecting or confirming appointments of the Gov¬ 
ernor, and also trying cases of impeachment. 

This, in brief, is a summary of the nature and duties 
of the Legislature of Pennsylvania. It is one of the three 
departments of state government, the others being the ex¬ 
ecutive and judicial. Our object in this work is to show 
the actual working of the legislative department, under a 
machine system, and for that reason the others are regarded 
simply in their relation to the legislative. 

The fact that the legislative body has usurped and is 
usurping many powers to itself, which were not intended 
by the framers of our form of government, makes this study 
all the more important, and it becomes the bounden duty of 
every patriotic citizen to act, and act effectively, when this 
lawmaking department of government, presumably repre¬ 
sentative, becomes misrepresentative of the wishes and de¬ 
sires of the people of the Commonwealth. 


23 


Chapter U 


RUI.ES THAT GAG AND THROTTLE. 

“God of our sires, who hither fled. 

Across a strange and stormy sea. 

Who suffered exile, toiled and hied, 

To make themselves and children free. 

God of our fathers, smite us not. 

We have forgot, we have forgot 

— Taylor. 

There are seventy-two rules under which the House 
of Representatives works at Harrisburg under the con¬ 
stitutional right to make its own rules of procedure. They 
are splendid rules for doing what they are intended to do 
and for thoroughness in that, they cannot be improved. 
They are the outgrowth of a generation of “Machine” con¬ 
trol, and every phase has been tested and proved equal to 
the test. They have stood the wear and tear of all assaults 
on the part of members with independent proclivities. They 
testify to the correctness of the doctrine of “the survival 
of the fittest” viewed from a gang standpoint. 


24 


Through the years, as sessions came and went, addi¬ 
tions have been made, until now the “Immortal 72” stand 
out as the very acme of strict regulations governing unfair 
and unjust procedure. Nothing was added at the session 
of 1911, for nothing could be added. They are complete 
in every detail and any addition or subtraction would mar 
their perfect symmetry. 

Of course they have to be adopted by each Legislature, 
and of course they are adopted before the speaker names 
his committees. There is a point in that order of arrange¬ 
ment since a vote against the rules means a forfeiture of 
committee assignments. 

The experienced members who know the inner working 
of these rules and who might make a rash attempt to modify 
them, are confronted with that contingency. They know 
what such a fate means, and the threat is generally suf¬ 
ficient to quiet them and prevent their interference with 
the “System.” 

On the other hand, the new members know nothing 
of the rules. They may have read them carefully but only 
a practical exemplification shows their full beauty, and they 
have never seen them in operation. Therefore, when the 
appointed session arrives, and a member quietly moves that 
the House adopt the rules of the last session, there is no 
effective protest. A half dozen members vote “Aye,” and 
the Speaker declares the rules adopted. By that vote, sup¬ 
posed to be a majority of the membership, the body binds 


25 


itself in a web of iron clad rules, warranted never to rip, 
ravel, or give way at the seams. 

To change them in the smallest detail during the ses¬ 
sion, requires a two-thirds majority and a two-thirds ma¬ 
jority against so important a feature of “Machine” control 
is not the easiest thing in the world to secure, as many rash 
“Independents” may testify. 

And so these rules, “bull proof and sky high,” hold 
tight and do their work unceasingly. They confer all power 
upon the Speaker, and his committees and the members of 
the body at large have nothing to do but watch the rules 
working with that perpetual motion effect which defies 
the laws of science. 

One of the masterpieces in this throttle system is Rule 
41, which provides that a bill negatived by a committee 
shall not be placed upon the calendar except by a majority 
vote of the entire membership. Thus a bill, in order to 
be even considered, after a committee has placed its dis¬ 
approving stamp upon it, must receive enough votes to 
pass it finally. 

It would appear to the ordinary observer that at least 
a majority of those voting ought to be sufficient to place 
a bill upon the calendar for consideration. Yet when the 
bill for the repeal of the Mercantile Tax was negatived by 
the committee and a vote taken to place it upon the calendar, 
the ninety members in favor of so doing, were absolutely 
helpless. The vote was 90 to 82, a majority of those voting, 


26 


but the rule requires 104 votes and this measure never 
• reached a place on the calendar. It was smothered, although 
literally thousands of petitions had been showered upon the 
legislators from all parts of the state, asking that it be 
given a fair and square hearing upon the floor. 

The" Local Option bill met the same fate in 1909 and 
1911. Although a State wide interest surrounded it, it was 
never placed upon the calendar for consideration. This rule 
41 proved an effective “gag,” which worked with admirable 
precision. 

Many State Legislatures, not so completely under “Ma¬ 
chine” domination, have a rule that from twenty-five to 
fifty members, by signing a petition can take a bill from the 
committee and place it on the calendar for consideration. 
Pennsylvania scorns such weakness. The committee can be 
depended upon and the rules provide that the committee has 
a chance to do its duty. 

Another rule of extreme value to the “Machine” is rule 
62, which provides that after a bill has been in the hands of 
a committee for more than ten days, it may be discharged 
from further consideration by a majority of those voting. 
That sounds a trifle fairer, but the last clause of the rule 
reads, “Provided, that if ready to report, the committee 
shall not be so discharged.” 

This rule works in the following manner. The motion 
to discharge a committee can only be made when resolu¬ 
tions are in order. These sessions are Monday night and 


27 


Friday morning, but as a session on Friday is rarely, if 
ever held, the Monday night session is the only one to be 
considered. 

The motion to discharge a committee, under an apt . 
ruling made years ago but still considered sacred, must lie 
on the table until the following resolution session, which 
means the delay of one week. The committee concerned 
is thus fully advised of the contemplated action and cannot 
be taken off its guard by a sacrilegious insurgent, who 
might desire quick and effective action. 

The committee, when the motion is called up a week 
after it has been made, is always ready to report. It simply 
reports the bill negatively and then the rule 41, previously 
explained, comes into play. It takes another week before a 
motion to place this much harassed measure on the calendar, 
is in order. Then that motion lies over another week, mak¬ 
ing a lapse of three weeks before even a side action vote can 
be taken. 

This complicated procedure was brought into play in 
the 1911 session, on the resolution for the Direct Election of 
U. S. Senators, introduced by the writer, the Jones bill 
providing for a popular vote in the Direct Election question, 
and the Walnut bill, which concerned the assistance to be 
given voters at elections. 

These measures were all considered “hostile” by the 
“Machine” and never had a chance of passage. The rules 
were made to take care of just such measures and they do 


28 


their work in complete fashion. There are other rules which 
dovetail into these. For instance, Rule 72, provides that 
“all resolutions shall be referred to an appropriate committee 
without debate.” This in spite of the fact that a resolution 
is simply an expression of opinion on the part of the 
legislative body. This rule prevents an expression of 
that opinion on the floor, for once in the hands of a com¬ 
mittee, these other rules come into action, with all their 
complicated and dilatory procedure. They work like clock¬ 
work and each cog fits perfectly. 

Under their action in the 1911 session, the question of 
the election of U. S. Senators by direct vote of the people, 
never came before the House for a vote. This, too in 
spite of the fact that a majority of the whole House had 
expressed themselves in favor of the resolution, ninety-eight 
members having signed the identical resolution in question 
and ten others promising to vote for it on the floor. 

The only vote taken was on an appeal from the decision 
of the Speaker ruling the entire resolution out of order. It 
gave members a chance to “dodge” and they proved agile 
dodgers. The decision was sustained by a vote of 77 to 103. 

There are some fair rules in the “72” but they do not 

trouble the “Machine.” The Speaker simply rides over them 

\ 

rough shod when occasion demands, and in the meantime 
they look well in print. Rule 52, declaring that the roll 
shall be called on any question on the demand of two mem¬ 
bers, or Rule 71, providing that any member may demand 
a verification of the roll, to assure its correctness, were 


29 


violated time and again. The members demand the roll 
call and the verification upon important measures but are 
rewarded with sundry taps of the gavel and forced to take 
their seats upon pain of punishment for disorderly behavior. 

When any rule might, through an oversight, work to 
the advantage of a member honestly striving to represent 
the people, there is a collection of moss grown decisions 
handed down in the dim and misty past. These can be 
haled forth on occasion and held up as instances of undiluted 
wisdom. So sacred are these decisions that members of 
“Machine” proclivities shudder with horror at the thought 
of reversing such holy precedents. Any appeal for such 
action is looked upon as assaults upon the very foundations 
of law and order. 

But the master stroke of these rules is Rule 69, which 
reads as follows: “A committee of five shall be appointed 
by the Chair who together with the Speaker of the House, 
shall report to the House from time to time, rules for the 
government thereof and amendments to such rules. That 
said committee be privileged to report at any time and said 
report shall be adopted by Majority vote. 

If any Pennsylvania citizen can conceive of a more 
perfect arrangement to meet the purpose desired, let him 
step forward. The Rules committee can declare any rule null 
and void or it can manufacture a rule to meet any sudden 
contingency. If a legislator should desire to counteract the 
effect of the gag restrictions and should offer an amendment to 


30 


the rules, such an amendment by the rules themselves, is re¬ 
ferred to the Rules Committee. Then all the other intricate 
machinery previously explained, comes into play. 

These are a few of the features of the “gag” rules of 
the Pennsylvania Legislature under “Machine” control. The 
“72” do not occupy much space in “Smull’s Handbook” but 
they certainly deserve the title, “Multum in Parvo.” 

Put into practice, the system is complicated, or funny, 
or vicious as one cares to look at it. It is always thorough 
and effective. In connection with an unscrupulous Speaker 
they reduce a legislative body to a condition of abject 
helplessness. It would be a grotesque joke if it were not 
so tragic. Few people in the State know the conditions 
and the story needs to be told and understood in order that 
the people may insist upon a complete revision of legislative 
methods. 

Nothing will come of the overthrow of any particular 
Speaker, when his successor will have the same despotic 
power he possessed under the rules. 

The fight must be waged against the rules which make 
such tyranny possible. Then and then only will the Repre¬ 
sentatives of the people be able to perform their bounden 
duties. And only when these “gag” rules are abrogated 
will those Representatives possess the rights guaranteed them 
by the Constitution. 


31 


Chapter Ul 

A GOVERNMENT OE THE GAVEE. 

“Who can in reason, then, or right, assume, 
Monarchy over such as live by right, 

His equals, if in power and splendor less, 

In Freedom equal?” — Milton. 

The founders of our Constitution, when providing for a 
Speaker of the House of Representatives and President 
of the Senate, had in mind the idea of a presiding officer 
who should use absolute impartiality, especially in protecting 
the rights of the minority. 

They were not thinking of men who are the bitterest 
partisans in their respective bodies, who enforce the rules 
as best suits the purposes of the “Machine,” who systematic¬ 
ally rob the minority of its rights. 

The system of tyrannical control by the presiding officer 
is practically the same in the two bodies so that a description 
of the House system will serve the purpose for both. 


32 


“Mr. Speaker, I ask for a roll call on this measure, 
under the rules.” 

This right is demanded by a Representative of a district 
of the state, containing fifty thousand persons. The request 
is in order, it is not calculated to disturb orderly procedure, 
it is made for the purpose of allowing the people of the 
state to see where their Representatives stand on a most 
important question which may become an issue in future 
campaigns. It is a right granted explicitly even by the 
“gag” rules and there is no just reason for even hesitation 
in granting it. No reason whatever, except that on a high 
raised throne stands one man who does not favor the bill 
and who does not propose to let the members go on record 
on it, much less enact it into law. 

Such a situation is not an unusual one, it is the rule in 
a “Machine” controlled Legislature. It emphasizes the fact 
that the men seated at their desks in the “Gold Chamber” 
are not lawmakers, possessing constitutional rights and 
privileges. They are either humble petitioners at the throne 
of a tyrant or engaged in a hopeless battle with an over¬ 
whelming power. 

Without the Speaker’s consent, the House can pass no 
measure, debate no measure, amend no measure, vote on no 
measure. Except for the small favors they are able to 
secure through humble subservience, the Representatives 
might as well be at their homes, leaving the Speaker and his 
clerks to attend to the duties of law making. The immense 


33 


expense of electing 206 members might thus be saved to 
the State. 

It is not an exaggeration to say that the Speaker has 
the power to override the wishes of a majority of the 
members. The interlocking system of his authority makes 
this possible and it has been put into practice many times. 
In the 1911 session, one hundred and eight members of the 
House were on record as being in favor of the resolution 
for the Direct Election of U. S. Senators. Yet a ruling of 
the Chair prevented a vote upon the measure. 

Appeals from the decision of the Chair are overruled, 
roll-calls are refused, objections to unanimous consent are 
unheard and motions are manufactured to suit the occasion 
although not a member rises to ask for recognition. Some 
members are recognized according to schedule prepared 
beforehand, even though they may not be present in the 
House when announced by the Chair, while other members 
try vainly to secure recognition from the Chair. 

But this direct control of parlimentary procedure and 
legislative deliberations is not all nor even the greatest part 
of the power of the Speaker under “Machine” control. 

He appoints all committees and in a legislation-by¬ 
committee system, that power is a mighty one. The Speaker 
names certain committees to do certain work in a certain 
manner. The committees are uniformly “packed” so that 
certain measures have not the slightest chance of a fair 


34 


hearing, while others will reach the calendar without even 
deliberation. 

Then, too, the Speaker cracks the bull whip of authority - 
over members who have pet measures they desire passed 
and appropriations they feel they must secure. He uses his 
powers for purposes of intimidation, the result being slavish 
and servile votes on the part of Representatives. 

He thus wields a tremendous “back-stairs” influence, an 
influence all the more dangerous because it is so insidious. 
When urged to assist in getting good measures out of com¬ 
mittee, he may declare that he is helpless until the committee 
acts. Then he is able to use the delightfully humorous 
statement that he is but one member of the House and there 
are 206 more to consider. 

But the sight of the Speaker patrolling the aisles and 
openly threatening members with his displeasure or promis¬ 
ing rewards for obedience, is calculated to show the real 
meaning of that fiction. In a “Machine” system, the Speaker 
can make good his threats and his promises. Everything 
works together for good to those that serve the “Machine” 
but the pathway of those in opposition is hard. 

The Speaker can look after the interests of servile 
Representatives, the men who will do exactly as they are 
told and can be depended upon in all emergencies. 

When such Representatives find that their voting, with 
by and for the Speaker and his schemes, is meeting with 
disapproval from the people “back home,” they are given 


35 


assistance. They suddenly become important Statesmen. 
They are placed on special committees and conferences and 
the fact published broadcast, until the “clay-eaters” become 
of apparent importance. This gives the Representative the 
material and he proceeds to the bunco. The people are 
informed through every avenue possible how very much 
their Representative has done for his district and what ruin 
and disaster would befall them if he were not at Harrisburg, 
valiantly working for their betterment. 

All this is part of the game just as it is also part to 
discredit the Representative who refuses to follow the bidding 
of the Speaker and the “Machine.” The people of the 
districts are informed that their members are without 
influence, that they cannot “get anything” and that fact is 
very apparent when the Representatives are “in wrong” 
with the Speaker, chief “bottle holder” for the “Machine.” 

Is it not entirely too much power for one man to 
possess, when he can, of his own power, kill or pass legisla¬ 
tion. When he can so manipulate things as to cast discredit 
upon an honest Representative and place a halo over the 
head of a scheming Misrepresentative. 

The “Machine” controlled Speaker uses his power as 
a public servant to promote the interests of the enemies of 
the Commonwealth. No man, however good, should have 
the control of legislation of a Speaker in the Pennsylvania 
House of Representatives. By taking away the power of 
arbitrary committee appointment, and amending the rules 


36 


which give him such despotic power, this tyranny and gov¬ 
ernment of the gavel will cease and no longer will nefarious 
schemes be gavelled through the legislative body in a man¬ 
ner which spells danger to a free Commonwealth. 


37 


Chapter IID 


COMMITTEES AND WHAT THEY COMMIT. 

“Little they care for thee, 0 Ship, the pelf mad, pirate crew, 
Whose black flag flutters from the mast, where once Truth’s 

ensign flew, 

Little they care for thee, O Ship, or if thy course be true.” 

— Baird. 


Those who believe that the Government of Pennsylvania 
is a Government of the people, for the people, and by the 
people, are laboring under a delusion. It is Government of 
the people, all right, but it is for the few and by the few. 

The cloak of Representative forms has been retained 
but they have been perverted into instruments of misrepre¬ 
sentation. Certain things are obviously needed to secure 
prompt and effective action on the part of a legislative body, 
therefore those things are seized upon and twisted and 
changed until they become only adjuncts of the power that 
controls. 


38 


It will be admitted by all that committees are a neces¬ 
sary feature of legislative procedure. The entire membership 
cannot consider separately every bill introduced and there¬ 
fore it is imperative that smaller divisions be arranged. In 
this way concentrated attention may be secured and the 
results of that special study be given to the membership at 
large. 

But under a “Machine” system, this necessary arrange¬ 
ment feels the same blight that has warped the others. The 
committees do not consider the measures but instead they 
simply take the action decreed by those higher up. We have 
seen that the Speaker appoints all committees and they are 
legion. There are a score and more of standing committees 
but most of them are ornamental rather than useful. Many 
of them are not required to hold a meeting during the entire 
session, for the simple reason that there are no bills referred 
to them. On the other hand, a half dozen committees do 
all the work, taking measures of every kind and subject. 

Those “working” committees are the ones whose make¬ 
up has been made the matter of especial care and study. 
The Appropriations committee is one of the most important 
for it considers all appropriation bills, classifies them and 
presents a general bill at the end of the session in accordance 
with the revenues available. This committee is “packed” 
for the purpose of getting exactly the action the “Machine” 
desires. A few men of known strength of character are 
placed upon it, in order to give it at least the appearance of 
fairness, but the vast majority are members who will “stay 
hitched.” The Chairman of the committee must have some 


39 


ability as a club wielder for he will be forced to hold ap¬ 
propriations over the head of many members in order to get 
votes the “Machine” must have. 

The Law and Order committee is another very im¬ 
portant one, for by a curious appropriateness, all liquor 
bills are referred to it. In its room are considered all tem¬ 
perance measures and also all measures introduced and 
advocated by the liquor interests. The liquor power is a 
valuable asset of the Pennsylvania “Machine” and it demands 
that this committee shall be “right.” It has nothing to fear 
for ordinarially, out of twenty-five members, nineteen or 
twenty are strenuous supporters of the Rum Demon, a fair 
sprinkling of the members being saloon keepers or dealers 
in intoxicating liquors. 

With such a “frame up” as that, it is not to be wondered 
at that all temperance legislation is throttled in committee, 
and all legislation calculated to benefit the liquor men, 
scarcely loses a minute in being favorably reported to the 
* House. In 1911, the Local Option bill was referred to this 
Law and Order committee. This bill was one over which a 
State wide campaign had been waged and it was entitled to 
at least fair consideration on the floor of the House. But 
when supporters of the measure asked for a hearing before 
the committee, they were absolutely refused such courtesy. 
Without losing time, the bill was reported back to the House, 
with a negative recommendation, which alone would have 
sealed its fate. Not as far back as the oldest inhabitant can 
remember, has any bill, negatived by committee ever been 
enacted into law. 


40 


But with such action taken, nothing was left but an 
effort to have it placed upon the calendar for consideration. 
That motion was made and the supporters of the measure 
made unanswerable pleas for the justice of such a vote. The 
opponents of Local Option made few speeches and fewer 
arguments, but when the vote was taken, the measure was 
dead for the session, having been strangled by committee. 

This same Law and Order committee considered the 
Kline “Saloon-on-Wheels” bill, but it was reported favorably J 
with a rush that dazed temperance members of the House. 
The Excise Commission bill, taking the power of granting J 
licenses out of the hands of the judges, and placing it in the 
hands of an appointive commission, also emerged from the 
Law and Order committee room triumphantly, with a favor¬ 
able report. 

Then there is the Election committee, to which is re¬ 
ferred all election laws, and proposed changes in political 
contests. The measure for Direct Election of United States 
Senators was referred to it in 1911, was pigeon-holed and 
when action was forced, was recommended negatively. A 
corrupt*practices bill met the same fate exactly, as did bills 
amending the voters’ assistance clause of our election laws. 

On the other hand a most outrageous measure aimed 
directly at the independent party that had secured 380,000 
votes for a governor the year previous, was brought out of 
the committee favorably, after but a short consideration. 

The Ways and Means Committee considers all revenue 


41 


bills and this committee, like the others named, is a most 
important adjunct of the “Machine.” It must be like ada¬ 
mant in its opposition to such bills as the Mercantile Tax 

* 

Repealer and measures equalizing taxation, and at the same 
time it must act favorably upon new taxing devices favored 
by the “Machine.” 

The power of the committee rests in the fact that the 
House or Senate can do absolutely nothing until a report 
has been made by the committee. This gives a chance for 
the pigeon-hole tactics by which measures calculated to 
benefit the people, are left to repose in innocuous desuetude. 
Many good measures meet that fate each session. 

But if that treatment does not avail, and the commit¬ 
tee is compelled to make a report, it can bring in its negative 
recommendation, which is tying a millstone about its neck 
and leaving it to drown. For the argument of “Machine” 
members on this point is parroted by rote. “Don’t vote 
against the Committee.” 

Another feature of the authority of committees, is that 
its sessions are secret and the votes of its members are 
not made public. It matters not if only half a dozen mem¬ 
bers are present, the reports have the same validity, and 
many instances have occurred of four members in a com¬ 
mittee room, thwarting the wishes of a majority of the 
people of the state. 

In one case at least during the last session, it was 
charged and never denied that the chairman of the com- 


42 


mittee alone had held a meeting- and reported on a number 
of measures, among them being three “pinch” bills intro¬ 
duced by himself. Not a single member of the committee 
was found who had been present at the meeting when such 
action was taken. 

Such is the committee tyranny, a part of the “Machine” 
system which not only prevents self government by the 
people, but prevents self government by the membership 
of the law making body. Through trickery, conspiracy, 
stealth and corruption, the true purposes of the committee 
have been swallowed up in the maelstrom of “Machine” 
rule. It in itself is but a cog, but taken in connection with 
the Speakership and the Rules, it forms a triumvirate of 
despotism, strong enough to defy the will of the people of 
the entire Commonwealth. 

Like all the other features of the “Machine” system, 
it depends upon secrecy and concealment and in dealing with 
it a flashlight is much more effective than a muck rake. 


43 


(Chapter ID 


KING CAUCUS IN ACTION. 


Tennyson. 

The caucus in the earlier days of Pennsylvania meant a 
conference of gentlemen to discuss important matters and 
reach a decision. The caucus in Pennsylvania politics today 
is the last resort of unprincipled politicians to club a Rep¬ 
resentative into line when he can be persuaded in no other 
way. 


“Their’s not to make reply, 
Their’s not to reason why, 
Their’s hut to do and die.” 


To “bolt” the caucus has in the past meant political 
ostracism, even to say anything against the caucus has meant 
proscription and a prompt attempt to read the offender out 
of the party. On the other hand, when representatives are 
forced to acquiesce in actions of which they do not ap¬ 
prove, simply because the party “Machine” may suffer by 


44 


an honest statement of their opinions, the condition becomes 
one of voluntary slavery. Between the two fates no honest 
and patriotic Representative can hesitate a moment. 

Under the caucus system in the Legislature, the ma¬ 
jority of the caucus is ruled by another majority, and back 
of that is still another, until the final analysis shows a very 
few men absolutely controlling the policy of the party. 

Suppose a condition where the two parties represented 
in the Legislature were about evenly divided. A caucus 
of the Republican members is called. Suppose there are one 
hundred and ten of them, a majority of the House of Rep¬ 
resentatives. The subject under consideration is presented 
and shows sixty members favoring one action, while fifty • 
members are conscientiously opposed to such a line of pro¬ 
cedure. 

Under the secret caucus system these Republicans in 
opposition must not only sink their scruples and forget 
their principles, they must join hands with the supporters 
of the’ measure. If they do not thus stultify themselves, 
they are declared to be traitors to the party. 


In such an instance as that given, the sixty members, 
or a majority of the majority, would be able to override 
the judgment of one hundred and forty-seven members, 
that is, the fifty Republicans and the members of opposing 
parties, numbering ninety-seven votes. 


45 


Such perversion of the judgment of Representatives 
has not been rare in the history of Pennsylvania law mak¬ 
ing under “Machine” control. The circumstances have per¬ 
haps not been so flagrant as those given in this instance, 
but the principle of a very small minority dictating the action 
of the entire body is very common. 

The caucus system comes into view early in the ses¬ 
sions where United States Senators are to be elected. The 
Speaker is also chosen in caucus at the beginning of each 
session. 

In the case of United States Senators, the county dele¬ 
gations are called in caucus before they reach Harrisburg. 
Here a majority controls the action, and when they reach 
the Capitol these delegations are counted solidly for the 
majority choice. 

In Allegheny county twenty-nine Representatives and 
Senators attended the caucus in 1910, one Senator not be¬ 
ing present. Through secret deals and hidden bargains, 
the members controlled by Mayor Magee were lined up 
solidly for George T. Oliver. The writer attended the cau¬ 
cus as a member of the Allegheny county delegation, and 
opposed the endorsement of Mr. Oliver on the ground that 
he was not the choice of the people, either of the county 
or state. This stand was the announcement for a violent 
outbreak and it was only after repeated interruptions that 
he was able to express his views. When the vote was taken, 
the writer voted “No” on the question of endorsing Mr. 


46 


Oliver. His vote was not counted, on the ground that he 
would not support Mr. Oliver, no matter what action was 
taken by the caucus. It was then announced to the press 
that the Allegheny county delegation had unanimously en¬ 
dorsed Mr. Oliver for United States Senator. 

Such caucuses were held in other counties, where the 
opposition was much greater, but under the system, the ma¬ 
jority controlled. 

When the Republican caucus was held in Harrisburg 
on that occasion, there was absolutely no discussion as to 
the merits of available candidates. Not another name was 
placed in nomination. There was no conference, the con¬ 
ferring had been done long before by a few leaders, and 
all that was necessary was the ratification of their action. 
All this in spite of the fact that a caucus ts supposed to 
be a meeting to hear opposing arguments and reach a just 
conclusion. 

Three members of the caucus voted for Julian Ken¬ 
nedy, but under the caucus system they were required to 
vote for Mr. Oliver at the election and they did so. Others, 
the writer being among them, did not attend the caucus, 
and voted for Mr. Kennedy at the election, which followed 
at a joint session of the House and Senate. 

That is the caucus system, a tyranny which reduces 
all to a dead level, robs a Representative of his individuality 
and requires him to place party above principle. It does 


47 


not take into consideration the fact that he may have gone 
before the people of his district advocating certain men 
and certain principles and have been elected on his prom¬ 
ise to uphold them. If a caucus takes an opposite action, 
through trickery and intrigue, he is required to fall in 
line or be branded a party traitor. 

Caucuses are held during the session of the Legislature 
on questions of vital import. They are secret sessions, 
held behind closed doors and the public has no way of 
learning the actions of their Representatives in these star 
chamber sessions. This feature alone is one which should 
damn the caucus system. The public has a right to know 
every official act of the man who is representing them. 
He is not voting for himself, he is voting for the people 
and they are entitled to know exactly how he votes on every 
question. Behind the closed door of the caucus his vote is 
secret, and the vote there often gives the lie direct to his 
public professions. 

The caucus is the poison of partisanship exemplified 
in actual practice. It is a part of the “Machine” system 
which has made Pennsylvania a scoff and hissing. When 
good men support unfit candidates and vicious measures 
because they are regular, the danger point has been reached. 

This following blindly of party caucuses is one of the 
dangerous features of our politics. Almost universally, the 
caucus is controlled by scheming, corrupt politicians and the 
allegiance of sensible men to what they believe to be party 


48 


makes possible the “Machine” which has taken control of 
the lawmaking power of the Commonwealth. 

As Frederick W. Shultz, the well known writer on 
Reform aptly says: 

“Men whose consciences would unmercifully sting them 
for the slightest lapse of decency or the merest approach 
of dishonor, openly and boastingly wear the livery of 
‘Rings’ and applaud and defend their acts, because the 
name of party has been stolen, as has all other property 
secured or obtained by ‘Rings’ and through the medium 
of black forgery made to veil a banner of wickedness. 
Thus they help to fruition the very villainy from which 
they pray every night to their Heavenly Father to be pre¬ 
served.” 

The patriotic, right thinking citizens of Pennsylvania, 
and they are vastly in the majority, must end this tyranny 
of the caucus. Many of them have in the past, mistakenly 
cast their influence on the other side, perhaps have helped 
to make the man who “bolted” an unjust caucus a political 
outcast. 

If they desire their officials and representatives to 
really represent their wishes and not become lack luster 
segments in the “Machine,” they must help tear down this 
fetich of the party caucus. 

It is not only the privilege, it is the duty, of a Repre¬ 
sentative to refuse to abide by the decision of a caucus 


49 


when that decision runs counter to honesty and good gov¬ 
ernment. The Representative cannot serve both the people 
and the caucus, he can be true to only one master. * 

It is not only the privilege, it is the sacred duty of 
the citizens to not only support their Representative in a 
stand against the caucus tyranny, but to demand that it 
be taken whenever occasion demands it. 

A spirited “bolt” is calculated to teach the self-con¬ 
stituted leaders and managers of any party, that even though 
they have the machinery in their control, the people back 
of the party are honest and reliable and clean and decent, 
and will not tolerate such despotic injustice. The people 
can show that they will support any worthy Representative 
when he disobeys an unjust party mandate, hatched in se¬ 
crecy and seclusion. 

Let the people show such a spirit and even those rulers 
who claim to have the political destiny of Pennsylvania in 
their especial keeping, will take note of it. Then they must 
forestall a serious, if not fatal, “bolt” by supporting only 
meritorious men and measures. 

King Caucus demands attention as well as all other 
tyrants. It is more than gratifying, moreover, to see that 
his magic power of the past is being rapidly dissipated and 
that his throne is tottering to its fall. 

When patriotism is placed higher than party-rot-ism, 
the tyranny of the secret, iron clad caucus is doomed. 


50 


Chapter IDI 

THE WHIP AND NOISELESS SPEAKING. 


We are used to the trick of glamor, to the windings of 
disguise, 

To the steering of wily pilots, through a mist of goodly 
lies” 

— Ingham, 


In these days of smokeless powder, wireless telegraph 
and horseless carriages, a “Machine” Legislature outdis¬ 
tances them all by its perfected system of noiseless speaking. 


When the “Machine” is working smoothly there is no 
need for oratory and in fact it is something to be feared, 
since in every attempt at expression there is always the 
danger that some fame-seeking but unwary “Machinist” 
may tell the truth. The leaders don’t want talkers, they 
want keep-stillers, and nothing else. The legislative record 
will show that by far the larger number of members never 
use any language beyond the “sign” style except when the 


51 



IS® 


iM§fl 








**.Y ; iv 

*^>V.'. 








?m&£ 


~§P§ 


SS ta'-'-:a 






IPIi 


Sssa« 





52 


Puppet Show 
































vote is taken. Then the Aye or No is simply in obedience 
to a sign from the one of the “whips” of the House or 
Senate. A deaf and dumb visitor feels perfectly at home 
and understands the transactions and keeps track of the 
proceedings far better than the man who is used to hearing 
matters under discussion threshed out in plain English from 
honest throats. 

The “Whip” is a very important individual, for he 
must combine into one personality the qualities of a Simon 
Legree and a Billy Barlow. He need not be a ready de¬ 
bater or a deep thinker. He must be able to swing the lash, 
and he is also expected to “set ’em up” to the boys on 
sundry occasions to keep the spirits of all to the proper 
pitch of good fellowship. 

At the session of 1911, the Judges’ Salary Grab Act, 
which increased the state pay roll a quarter of a million 
dollars, was in peril. A number of rural members, fearing 
an outbreak among their constituents, developed aggravated 
cases of “cold feet” on this measure. They intimated that 
they could not discern the necessity for the vast increase in 
the emoluments of judges, and suggested that the folks 
back home might raise trouble if they voted for it. 

Then the versatility of the “Whip” was shown. He 
announced a champagne supper, and those wavering pa¬ 
triots were summoned to the feast. The information which 
leaked out from time to time regarding the event, would 
seem to imply that it was a hilarious success. At its con- 


53 


elusion most of the revellers were unable to tell whether 
the orchestra was discoursing the strains of God save the 
weasel or Pop Goes the King. 

But everybody was happy, good fellowship was su¬ 
preme and at the proper time the judges were voted their 
increased stipend and the hungry wolf was beaten back from 
their doors once more. 

The most important duty of the “Whip” is to “con¬ 
vince” members as to their duty regarding legislation. This 
“convincing” is not done through public argument, however 
much that delusion may be cherished by the worshippers of 
the government of the fathers. Ah, no, this “convincing” 
is done in heart to heart talks where there can be no chance 
for confusion. Back of the “Whip’s” convincing arguments 
is the entire power of the “Machine.” When he casually 
mentions that a vote contrary to his wishes will mean the 
loss of an appropriation, or the defeat of a bill in which 
the member is interested, that representative of the people 
knows it is no idle statement. That is the kind of “con- 
vincer” with a snap to it, and it is most appropriate that 
it is used by the “Whip.” 

During the session, bills are considered rapidly and 
it is impossible to give out advance orders on all measures. 
There is where the “Whip” gets in his work, and his move¬ 
ments are more eloquent than words. 

A bill comes up in the House or Senate after having 
passed the committee which had been carefully selected to 


54 


handle it in just the manner determined upon by the “Ma¬ 
chine.” It is passed on two readings by title so rapidly that 
the ordinary member cannot find it on his calendar, to say 
nothing of following it. The Speaker cries out, “Does the 
House (or Senate) agree to the bill?” As rapidly as a 
flash the remainder of the sentence is completed. “It’s agreed 
to.” On the third reading the bill is hurriedly read. The 
“Whip” then gets into play with his noiseless system. He 
has a calendar, on which is marked the desired action on 
all measures, and his signals convey the information to his 
faithful guardsmen. When any action, motion, etc., out 
of the ordinary is desired, he beckons honorable gentlemen 
from all parts of the house, and they come like scurrying 
weasels to his chair. Back they slink and then the motion is 
put and carried and the action is over. 

The “Whip” is given all the assistance possible in the 
discharge of his onerous duties. He has the “Bell Wether” 
at the head of the roll, who secures his proud position from 
the fact that his name begins with A. This born leader’s 
vote is taken as a guiding star to those who follow, and this 
system simplifies matters exceedingly. “Whip’s” duties are 
made much easier through the admirable seating arrange¬ 
ments of the house. The Philadelphia and Allegheny county 
delegations are his strength, his piece de resistance, as it 
were. The members of these delegations, who are num¬ 
bered among the tried and true, are seated in compact 
manner, so that they may be reached readily. The Alle¬ 
gheny Regulars occupy the two seats nearest the aisle down 
an entire row. The Philadelphia Regulars occupy one en- 


55 




tire corner of the room. Thus an order can be started with 
the certainty that it will traverse these delegations 'in a 
few seconds, and each member will know at once just what 
his duty is. This arrangement also gives the “Whip” needed 
opportunity to “convince” rural members and others who 
may not be quite so susceptible to reason as the eagle-eyed 
representatives from the cities of Philadelphia and Pitts¬ 
burgh. 

It is an especially inspiring sight to see the Republican 
“Whip” giving his signals to Democratic members. The 
understanding which exists between “Machine” Democrats 
and the leader of the “hell hounds of the opposition” is 
beautiful to look upon, and it shows that even a difference 
in name cannot prevent a harmonious and mutually bene¬ 
ficial working arrangement. 

In fact, the bi-partisan combination in the Legislature 
has reached a high degree of perfection. There are Demo¬ 
crats who are the most consistent supporters of the Re¬ 
publican “Machine” that could be wished. They do their 
duty manfully, and many a vicious bill is passed through 
their never failing support and loyalty. 

They are termed Democrats through a pleasant fiction 
and with a view to throwing dust in the eyes of the follow¬ 
ers of Thomas Jefferson, who vote for them because they 
are on the good old “Demmycrat” ticket. They are not 
Democrats, only gangsters, a little more contemptible and 
traitorous perhaps, than those in the majority. Their votes 


56 




count for “Machine” measures just the same, as the dif¬ 
ference in political classification is not counted in the roll 
call. 


Presumably through a coincidence, these faithful ones 
of the “opposition” are always named as minority members 
on fat commissions, committees, etc. The Democrats who 
labor under the idea that they should oppose the pet pro¬ 
jects of the Republican “Machine” are given no considera¬ 
tion whatever. In their loyalty to their principles, they are 
disloyal to the “Machine,” and that seals their doom as far 
as recognition and reward are concerned. 

From all this it may be seen that the “Whip” is a very 
necessary adjunct of “Machine” made legislation. He is 
a necessary cog and the wheels would not run so smoothly 
without him. 

When the “Whip” of the House of Representatives was 
called on during the last night of the 1911 session, to “make 
a speech, sing a song or tell a story,” he blushed and re¬ 
plied, “I can’t make a speech. I can’t sing a song. I can’t 
tell a story. All I can do is oil the machine.” 

That sums it up in a word. The “Whip’s” duty is to 
oil the “Machine,” and his duty is well performed when 
all is running with a smooth precision. He is needed in 
the “Machine” system of lawmaking. How would law¬ 
makers be able to perform their duties unless they were 
told, and how can they be told without the “Whip?” 


57 


Of course, it seems strange to the casual observer or 

the citizen who comes to the Capitol with great reverence 

* 

in his heart for makers of law. He sees entire sessions 
pass without a word of discussion, though hundreds of 
bills are being passed into law. He thinks of Pennsylva¬ 
nia, with all her varied interests and her multitude of peo¬ 
ple. He thinks that these laws must be obeyed and he 
cannot understand. 

It is simply the “Machine.” The cunning politician, 
with his strings and his wires, with his schemes and his 
underground byways, is the moulder of legislation, and the 
thinker of other days, who was able to present his ideas 
and thoughts in conclusive fashion, has no place in such a 
system. The art of noiseless speaking has taken the place 
of argument, and its silent certainty is as uncanny as it is 
effective. 

As long as the “Machine” dominates legislation and 
hucksters laws, just so long will the “Whip,” with his 
threats and promises and signals, be needed to mould the 
course of events. 

When representatives put the welfare of the people 
above the welfare of the “Machine” the mission of the 
“Whip” will have ended. He will take his place with the 
curiosities of the past, with the mastodons of another 
period, for the lash of the slave driver will then have lost 
its magic power to “convince.” 


58 


Chapter THU 


LOG ROLLING AND COMPROMISE. 

“Nor all that heralds rake from coffined clay, 

Nor florid prose, nor honied lies of rhyme. 

Can blazon evil deeds, or consecrate a crime .” 

— Byron. 

Perhaps the word the legislator hears most often at 
Harrisburg is “Compromise.” One hears it advanced for 
all kinds of action, good and bad. Many independent legis¬ 
lators use it as an argument for getting something they 
desire, urging the sacrifice of one good in the hope of 
securing another. “Machine” members advance it that they 
may secure what they desire, urging support for vicious 
measures with the promise that good measures will be in 
turn supported. 

On all sides is heard the tributes to the beauty of Com¬ 
promise. “Don’t be radical and lose everything. Go slowly,” 


59 


they say, veiling the fact that they do not want independ¬ 
ent members to go at all, they want them to stand still. 


Compromise has been a curse of Pennsylvania and her 
deplorable position politically is evidence of its results. 
Rights have been abandoned and wrongs endured through 
this compromising attitude on the part of citizens and of¬ 
ficials. Citizens have cast their ballots for candidates whom 
they knew to be corrupt, on the plea that it would work 
out right in the end. They knew that no party nor can¬ 
didate inherently corrupt could be expected to produce good 
works, but they compromised with a vain hope in their 
minds and their rights were lost. 


We have compromised with the great combinations 
of capital and the cost of living has gone up a hundred 
per cent in fifteen years. We have compromised with law¬ 
makers and they have burdened us with unjust and in¬ 
iquitous laws, beneath which we groan today. 

Compromise. It was that which caused the Civil war, 
with its awful cost of life and treasure. This nation had 
compromised with slavery from every angle, but it paid 
the red penalty in the end. 

Compromise has always resulted in postponing needed 
action until that action becomes many times more danger¬ 
ous and difficult. It has never yet prevented the inevitable 
outcome and it never will. 


60 


They tell us of the golden mean between the two ex¬ 
tremes, and it is generally mean enough. In the compro¬ 
mise between Right and Wrong, it is always the Right that 
is worsted, always the Wrong that is triumphant. 

But still the argument is used and many a compromise 
is made by lawmakers at the expense of their own honor 
and self-respect. Almost every law passed by a Legislature 
is the result of compromise, and this feature demands the 
attention of the citizen. 

Trading in legislation, which is known by the appro¬ 
priate name of “Log Rolling,” is almost universal. The 
vote entrusted by the people to their representative is 
swapped in the same manner as boys trade jack-knives. 
Measures which can not stand on their own merits are 
made the beneficiaries of “deals.” Vicious measures are 
supported in order that support for good measures may be 
secured. So universal is the trading in a “Machine” sys¬ 
tem that the member who refuses to barter his vote on 
such conditions has little chance of success. Every time 
he refuses to trade, he loses votes, and with the vast num¬ 
ber of measures under consideration, it is not long until 
the member finds himself hopelessly handicapped. 

This vicious and dangerous method is especially no¬ 
ticeable in the more flagrantly unjust measures. For in¬ 
stance, in the 1911 session the Kline “Saloon-on-Wheels” 
bill showed the system in its full perfection. This meas¬ 
ure, which would have permitted brewers and distillers to 


61 


peddle their goods from house to house in “wet or dry” 
districts, met with considerable opposition from the first. 
Far more than the necessary votes to ensure its passage 
in the House of Representatives were secured through “Log 
rolling.” One member, when brought to task by his con¬ 
stituents for his vote on this measure, declared publicly, 
and it was published in the papers in his own district, that 
he had been assured of the passage of certain measures 
of his own in return for his vote in favor of the Kline 
bill. 


It is not an exaggeration to say that every unjust 
and iniquitous bill passed during the 19 n session was the 
result of this system of compromise, and the same thing 
has been true of other sessions. 

Every member is forced to meet this question, and it 
is very much of a question at times. The new member 
who goes to Harrisburg determined to be honest and un¬ 
swerving in his loyalty to the rights of all the people, soon 
finds the difficulties in the way of such a resolution. He 
comes face to face with shrewd, smooth bargainers and 
traders, potent factors of the “Machine” system, and they 
advance their compromise argument early and often. 

It takes real manhood to stand up against such a sys¬ 
tem and that is exactly what is needed in Pennsylvania. 
Abundant illustrations could be given to prove the state¬ 
ment that the representative or official who eternally prates 
of compromise and urges that radical action be avoided, is 


62 


the worst enemy of the best interests of the state. Such a 
man may not be doing anything to make conditions worse, 
but he is certainly doing nothing to make them better. And 
to allow affairs to continue under the “Machine” system 
as exemplified in Harrisburg, no better and no worse, would 
be the saddest fate that could befall the domain of William 
Penn. 



63 


Chapter Dill 


THE SENATORIAL, GRAVEYARD. 


“And, a song they sang, these senators gray; it was short and 

sad and sere. 

We’re here because we’re here, because we’re here because 
we’re here.” 


— McLaughlin. 


The “Machine” system thrives only in a jungle so dense 
that sunlight cannot enter. It fights anything tending to 
definite responsibility, where the public might see at a glance 
where the trouble lies and take steps to remedy it. With 
that end in view, the “Machine” takes features of govern¬ 
ment adopted for a certain purpose, and warps and twists 
them away from that purpose. 


This gives the “Machine” a peculiar advantage in that 
it can appeal to the government of “the fathers” and glorify 
our “system of representative government.” 


64 


One of these features of representative government is 
the bipartite legislature, that is, the lawmaking power 
vested in two bodies, the Senate and the House of Repre¬ 
sentatives. The theory is that one house will serve as a 
check and balance to the other and that the rights of the 
people will be better preserved by having two bodies to 
act upon laws. 

Regardless of the weight of such an argument, and it 
is to be very much doubted that the theory of two legisla¬ 
tive bodies in the state is a sound one, still the fact remains 
that under “Machine” control, two bodies simply add to 
the confusion of the jungle in which corruption lurks. 

Bills may be forced through the House of Representa¬ 
tives by the power of an aroused public sentiment, in spite 
of all the tangle of procedure we have already described. 
But then it goes to the Senate, and there it faces the same 
obstructions and difficulties. Many bills which successfully 
pass the gauntlet of the House, languish and die in the 
graveyard of the Senate. The presence of the two bodies 
gives “Machine” representatives in the House an oppor¬ 
tunity to vote in accord with public sentiment on progres¬ 
sive measures, with the full sanction of the “Machine,” be¬ 
cause it is a foregone conclusion that the measure can be 
“taken care of” in the Senate. By this contemptible method 
of double dealing, members who have faithfully served the 
“Machine” may go home and point to the record of voting 
for or against certain measures and demand re-election on 
the ground of faithful service. 


65 


In understanding the working of the Senate, one must 
understand the value of Senatorial Courtesy. That is the 
all pervading note that dominates action in this body of 
grave and dignified solons. Summed up in a word, it means 
that you are expected to stand for my particular graft, if 
I, in turn will stand for yours. 

This Alphonse and Gaston method of lawmaking would 
be ludicrous and amusing if it did not so tragically threaten 
the rights of a people. To see Senators voting for measures 
to which they publicly proclaim themselves opposed simply 
on the ground of “Senatorial courtesy,” is a sight to con¬ 
vince the most devoted lover of our theory of government 
that about all we have left is the theory. 

The etiquette rules in the Manual of Senate Misrepre¬ 
sentation are clear and conclusive, and a violation of them 
puts the offending Senator outside the pale, makes of him 
a discourteous and ill-mannered ruffian, who has no standing 
in good, Senatorial society. And Senatorial society means 
more than a general term, for the members at the beginning 
of a session, organize a club, with badges, social features, 
etc., which puts still further weight on this plea of Senatorial 
Courtesy. 

This system does not take into consideration the fact 
that a legislative Beau Brummel voting to despoil and 
wrong the people, may be a more dangerous factor than a 
violator of “courtesy,” who is representing the wishes and 
desires of the citizenship. It does not consider that it is 


66 


the right and duty of every Senator to express his honest 
beliefs on legislation, but in an insidious manner it throt¬ 
tles free speech and buries justice and right in the grave 
for the sake of “courtesy.” 

Time after time the spectacle of Senators energetically 
beseeching members of the House to vote against measures, 
they themselves have voted for in the Senate, is seen. On 
the other hand, the Senate is the last bulwark of the “Ma¬ 
chine” in strangling measures which have passed the House, 
although inimical to the “Machine’s” interests. 

In the 1911 session, some of the most important progres¬ 
sive measures died and were buried in the Senatorial grave¬ 
yard. There was the public utilities bill, which would have 
put public service corporations under proper regulation. It 
passed the House almost unanimously, but was given scant 
consideration in the Senate, being kicked into a committee 
to die. In the Senate death chamber the flickering spark of 
life went out from the Workmen’s Compensation bill, Em¬ 
ployers’ Liability bill, and measures taxing express com¬ 
panies, equalizing taxation, preventing Child Labor, secur¬ 
ing pure food, and a score of others of the most progres¬ 
sive legislation of the session. 

The history of the 1911 session was similar to that of 
every session of “Machine” legislature. The Senate, com¬ 
posed of fifty members, is more easily handled than the 
House, and the Senate is relied upon to stand firm in de¬ 
fense of the “Machine.” As at a masked ball, the mem- 


67 


bers vote and their votes are no criterion of their sentiments. 
With a dread of being “discourteous,” they vote in favor 
of measures they know to be vicious and the public is help¬ 
less before such a system. The entire machinery of “gag” 
routine, decisions of the President, referring to committees, 
negatived bills, etc., is entangled in this “courtesy” and adds 
to the danger from such a source. 

In that miscalled “courtesy” rests in part the treason 
of the Senate, for the public welfare has no consideration 
in such a system. 


The people must take control of their own government, 
nor trust entirely such dark lantern methods. They must 
■demand that responsibility be definitely fixed so that they 
may know who is responsible for the defeat of measures 
they desire. They cannot afford to turn the torrent of their 
desire against one House only, for its passage there in no 
way signifies that it will be enacted into law. 

The only apparent way to combat such an insidious 
method is for the people to take the machinery of politics 
back to themselves. A few lawmakers cannot safely be 
trusted with the monopoly of lawmaking. There are too 
many subterranean escapes and concealed exits, to be able 
to place the responsibility where it belongs. 


But if the people take to themselves the right of enacting 
legislation, if when their representatives refuse to carry out 


68 


their wishes, and to veto legislation passed by their repre¬ 
sentatives which they do not approve, this danger will dis¬ 
appear. 

Then, it may be said that the Graveyard of the Senate 
is no longer the gruesome but spacious and complete burial 
ground of countless measures demanded by the aroused pub¬ 
lic conscience of the state. 


69 


Chapter IS 

GETTING THINGS DONE BY COMMISSION. 

“Hateful to me as are the gates of hell, 

Is he who hiding one thing in his heart, utters another 

— Homer. 


Some machines are simple, having a couple of wheels 
working upon each other to produce the required results. 
Others are complicated and consist of a multitude of wheels, 
within wheels, springs, levers and attachments. The legis¬ 
lation “Machine” belongs to the latter class for it is more 
complicated than a watch. There is a method in that, too, 
because while it is easy to discover what is wrong in a 
simple machine and to remedy it, it is a vastly different 
proposition to discover and remedy the weak spot in a be¬ 
wildering maze of complicated machinery. 

The Commission idea is one of the masterpieces of the 


70 


modern labyrinth of lawmaking by “Machine.” It is an 
example of the wheel within a wheel and makes responsi¬ 
bility hard to fix. And that is a mighty important object 
to the “Machine.” 

A Commission comes into being generally with high 
sounding phrases and an all pervasive sense of uplift. A 
legislator arises in his place and introduces a resolution 
which deplores existing conditions and cites the urgent rea¬ 
sons for a change. This change is to be arrived at through 
a Commission, to be appointed by the Governor, and which 
shall make investigations into the subject and report its find¬ 
ings to the next Legislature. Of course, an appropriation 
of a few thousand dollars is necessary to enable the Com¬ 
mission to carry on its work, but that is a mere bagatelle 
compared with the great good to flow from the Commis¬ 
sion. 


The resolution is passed and the duty of appointing 
the members devolves upon the Governor. The body which 
authorizes the commission does not elect the members to 
serve upon it, and that feature in itself should condemn it. 
The Governor appoints whom he pleases, or whom the Boss 
directs, and the stream never gets higher than its source. 
The Commission is always subject to the will of its creator, 
and the members who compose it are named with the full 
purpose of getting the results required. 

Then the Commission gets to work, with junketing trips 
and investigations galore. A vast amount of testimony is 


71 


taken, contradictory briefs are filed and countless questions 
are asked. All of this is printed, at the expense of the 
state, and a copy is obligingly given each member of the 
Legislature when it meets in session. The bill which is to 
remedy the “distressing conditions” is then introduced as a 
party measure. Generally, if the facts were known, this bill 
had been drawn long before the Commission was appointed, 
and the entire procedure simply a blind to deceive the 
people. 

Sometimes, if it is deemed unwise to attempt the pas¬ 
sage of the desired measures, the Commissron simply re¬ 
ports that it is unable to come to a conclusion and asks to 
be given another opportunity to make good. This occurred 
in the case of the Commission to revise the revenue laws. 
The Commission was appointed in 1909 and held numer¬ 
ous sessions in the interim. It came to the 1911 session with 
a huge volume of printed testimony but no suggestions. 
Many pages in that volume were given up to arguments 
against the Mercantile Tax of the state, one of the most 
unjust taxes possible to imagine. One in reading the 
printed report of the Commission could not fail to wonder 
why some recommendation on this subject was not given, 
since almost every individual who appeared before the Com¬ 
mission spoke against this tax. But not a word was said 
concerning it and when a bill was presented to repeal the 
Mercantile Tax, the members of the Commission opposed it. 

Another Commission was appointed in 1909, the duties 
of this one being to report on the revision of the election 


72 


laws of the state. This Commission held its sessions and 
came back to the 1911 session with some weird findings. 
One of these was that the direct primary system of nomi¬ 
nation of officials is unsound in theory. It declared that a 
party should be allowed to make its own rules and nomi¬ 
nate its candidates in its own way, expressing the opinion 
that the selection of candidates by small bodies of delegates 
gives better opportunity of deliberation and sounding public 
opinion. 

If its findings were accepted as correct, the principle of 
the government by the few would be given full approbation. 
The Commission had no sympathy with government by all 
the people, and after all its deliberations, it came to the con¬ 
clusion that the old time party caucus, with its cabals and 
its deals, is much better than the direct primary where nomi¬ 
nations are made by the people directly. In fact, it looked 
upon the matter wholly from the standpoint of the “Ma¬ 
chine” or party organization, instead of from the stand¬ 
point of the people at large. 

Then there was the Catlin Commission, authorized in 
1911, for the express purpose of investigating municipal 
corruption in Philadelphia. The resolution creating the com¬ 
mission was sneaked through the Senate in the closing hours 
of the session. It was meant by those who conceived it to 
serve the “Machine” and nothing else, and it performed its 
duties thoroughly. 

Called to Philadelphia during the mayoralty fight of 


73 


1911, it simply acted the part of the discredited pawn or 
scheming politicians there. It went to Philadelphia to help 

serve its creators, Senator Penrose and Senator McNicholl. 

While, repeatedly asserting that there would be a full 
and free investigation into Philadelphia’s criminal misgov- 
ernment, it was at the same time holding secret conferences 
with the man most responsible for such conditions. 

Public charges were made that Mayor Reyburn had 
received more than a million dollars of financial assistance 
from corporations, politicians, contractors, and public of¬ 
ficers, which corporations and persons had been the benefici¬ 
aries of his administration. 

The Commission was getting into a position it did not 
dream of when it went to Philadelphia. Date after date 
was set for the public hearing on the charges made, but each 
time a postponement was announced. Still the chairman 
of the Commission promised that a full investigation would 
be made. He said: 

“We are determined to permit no let-up in this matter 
until Philadelphia, the largest city in the state, which is now 
charged with being honey-combed with graft, is thrown open 
to the public gaze, so that all who want to see may see.” 

But in spite of this solemn pledge, the Commission ad¬ 
journed without holding its sessions, adjourned in the face 


74 


of public indignation, adjourned at the order of Senator 
Penrose and sneaked out of Philadelphia, having written 
one more chapter in the black history of “Machine” politics 
in Pennsylvania. 

But the Commission system still goes on. It is used 
in every phase of legislative duty. Not satisfied with keep¬ 
ing the people from the control of their legislative depart¬ 
ment, the “Machine” does not even desire to trust so large 
a body as the Legislature. It wants a system whereby the 
fewest possible shall rule, and thus it gets what it wants 
through a channel absolutely sure. It rewards its faithful 
servitors by giving them appointments on commissions, and 
at the same time binds them more firmly to accomplish its 
foul ends. 

Each Legislature adds to the number of Commissions, 
and extends the sphere of the Commission’s usefulness. For 
instance the list of commissions authorized by the 1911 
session includes the following: 

Commission on Anthracite Mines; Commission on Art; 
Commission on Capitol Park Extension; Commission on 
City Planning; Commission on Erection of Monument to 
Robert Morris; Commission on erection of Statue to Gen¬ 
eral Meade; Commission on Fiftieth Anniversary of Eman¬ 
cipation Proclamation; Commission on Homeopathic State 
Hospital for the Insane; Commission on Improvement of 
Canal Basins at Erie; Commission on Investigating and Con¬ 
trol of Chestnut Tree Blight Disease; Commission on Laws 


75 


of Province and Commonwealth Prior to 1800; Commission 
on Panama-Pacific International Exposition; Commission on 
Revision and Codification of Anthracite Mining Laws; Com¬ 
mission on Erection of Salisbury Memorial at Florence, N. 
C.; Commission for State Forestry Reservation; Commis¬ 
sion to arrange for Unveiling of Bernard Statues; Commis¬ 
sion to Examine Cook Tract of Land; Commission to In¬ 
vestigate and Report on Safe Construction of Buildings; 
Commission to Investigate Industrial Accidents; Commis¬ 
sion to Investigate Methods of Inflicting the Death Penalty; 
Commission to Continue to Revise and Codify Election 
Laws; Commission on Water Supply; Commission on Valley 
Forge Park. 

These are not all by any means, but enough have been 
given to show the scope of the Commission cog wheel in 
“Machine” legislation. It is an irresponsible, secret system, 
which deceives the public, and yet makes assurance doubly 
sure for the “Machine.” The plan is false in its concep¬ 
tion and in its appointment, and it has been a vital factor in 
the “Machine” rule which has cursed Pennsylvania for a 
generation. 


76 


Chapter J 

the: dollar and the: MAN. 

“Oh, God, that bread should be so dear, 

And flesh and blood so cheap — Hood. 

In 1756 the Indians in Pennsylvania broke from all re¬ 
straint and allied themselves with the French against the 
English. Settlers were murdered along the frontiers and 
the scalp yell was heard in many settlements. The Gen¬ 
eral Assembly was called in extra session but Governor Mor¬ 
ris refused to sign the bills they passed because they taxed 
the estates of the proprietors. Public meetings were held 
in many towns and large delegations came to the Assembly. 
The mangled remains of an entire family, killed by the In¬ 
dians, were hauled about the streets like venison from the 
mountains, and actually placed in the doorway of the 
Capitol. Public sentiment became so overwhelming at last 
that the proprietors donated 5,000 pounds and the Assem¬ 
bly passed its bills, exempting their estates. 


77 


Q 

o 


O 





78 


Unto Dagon Their 














We have advanced in many ways since that far-off day 
and the war whoops of the red savages of the forest are 
no longer heard in Pennsylvania. But we have not gone 
beyond that old time veneration for the dollar above the 
man, property above persons. In fact, under a “Machine” 
system we have even gone backward, so that even the sight 
of countless gory victims, does not lead to action. 

It is very easy to secure the passage of bills through 
the Legislature, which will protect property rights, it is next 
to impossible to secure legislation to protect human rights. 
The corporations and public service companies get what they 
want from the “Machine” but the common people ask for 
bread and are given a stone. 

The Legislature of 1911 considered Child Labor Legis¬ 
lation, whose passage would have meant a great forward 
step in humanitarian effort. One was the “glass excep¬ 
tion” bill, which aimed to put glass factories in the class 
of all other factories by extending to them the law which 
prohibits all night work in factories unless the child is at 
least sixteen years old. The other was the “Night Mes¬ 
senger” bill which fixed the age limit for night messenger 
work at eighteen. 

There was nothing radical in these measures, in fact, 
they were conservative to a fault, and one would hardly 
expect very bitter opposition to their passage from the in¬ 
terests effected. But those interests were not ready to lose 
a single dollar even when human life was in the balance. 


79 


The “Machine” came to their assistance and both of these 
bills were killed out of hand. 

Then the Legislature soothed its conscience by passing 
a bill to prevent disease among honey bees. 

The last report of the Secretary of Internal Affairs of 
Pennsylvania shows that in the mines and mills of this state, 
26,000 men are each year either killed or seriously injured. 
On the railroads of the state each year, 19,000 employes are 
killed or injured while in the discharge of their daily duties. 
Think of an army of 45,000 men walking along the streets 
of a city in the full flush of strength and manhood, and 
then think of that same army after a year of the carnage 
of peace. Of those who are living, every one belongs in 
the pathetic class of cripples. Some have lost their eyesight 
and depend upon their fellows for sight, some are legless, 
some armless, all are numbered among the helpless and de¬ 
pendent. 

This fearful cost is not that of an unusual year, it is 
the general rule of Pennsylvania’s industrial life. It was 
true last year, it will be true this year, and every year until 
lawmakers place human rights above property rights. 

But when a measure was introduced into the Legisla¬ 
ture which would have assured some degree of compensation 
to these victims of “man’s inhumanity to man,” it was given 
scant attention and was buried beneath an avalanche of 
opposition. 


80 


Then the Legislature redeemed itself by passing an ap¬ 
propriation of $275,000 to prevent the blight from injuring 
chestnut trees. 

Think of it, more than a quarter of a million dollars 
to check the blight on a chestnut leaf, not a dollar to prevent 
blighted life. 

Out in Westmoreland county’s coal field a practical state 
of civil war existed for months. At least six men were 
shot dead, an unknown number were wounded with guns, 
black jacks and clubs, houses were fired and property de¬ 
stroyed. More than a hundred babies died during the 
winter months, and the health of thousands was shattered 
by the rigor of the bitter cold, which permeated tents and 
shacks and holes in the ground. 

The situation in Westmoreland county was unneces¬ 
sary and criminal. A new army of vagrants and tramps 
went out from the ranks of the unemployed miners. Crime 
increased from this source. Misery and poverty increased, 
and in the end the citizenship of the entire state felt the sag 
of the burden. 

The lawmaking body of the state should deal with such 
a situation, since it is a problem which concerns more than 
the business interests involved, it concerns society. But a 
resolution ordering an investigation into the conditions there, 
presented in the State Legislature, was blown off the cal¬ 
endar without even ordinary courtesy. 


81 


Then the Legislature evened the score by passing a bill 
preventing cruelty to cows. 

Pennsylvania under “Machine” control has not ad¬ 
vanced one iota since the time when mangled bodies were 
carried about the streets as an incentive to immediate legisla¬ 
tive action. Run down the gory record of our mill accidents, 
our mine explosions, our defective fire escape tragedies, 
our countless and unnecessary sacrifices of life and limb and 
answer the question. 

The “Machine” organizes the Legislature and every of¬ 
fice over which it holds sway on a property basis. Human 
life is the cheapest commodity on the market and is consid¬ 
ered the least. 

We must realize sometime that machinists are greater 
than machines, builders greater than buildings, miners more 
important than mines, factory workers more valuable than 
factories, the things of manhood higher and nobler than the 
things of money. 

When we do realize these facts, we will then follow 
those Pennsylvanians of another century, and act, belatedly 
though it may be, but at least effectively. While we can¬ 
not bring back life to the victims on the altar of the Golden 
Calf, nor straighten the twisted limbs, nor give eyesight to 
the blind ones, we may at least end the “Machine” rule 
which makes such sacrifices a necessity. 


82 


Chapter 51 

STEALTH AND THUGGERY. 

“Though your feet shall run with power and your arm reach 

over seas. 

Yet the questing bolt shall find you, if you keep not faith 
with these. 

Keep the truth your fathers made, lest your children grozv 
afraid. 

Lest you hear the captive's mother weeping sore. 

There is little worth beside, they are dead because they 
lied. 

And the young men's feet are at the door.” 

— Austin. 

What chance do the people stand when their demands 
do not suit the “Machine” is a question not hard to an¬ 
swer. They have just as much chance as the proverbial 
feather in that proverbial place which is paved with good 
intentions. 


83 



We have seen how the “Machine” thwarts the public 
will by warping the machinery of legislation out of shape. 
It has taken Rules, Speakership, Committees, Caucuses, Com¬ 
missions, etc., which have a valid reason for existence, and 
it has made of them instruments of oppression and tyranny. 
The ordinary person will say that despotism can go no 
further, need go no further. But the truth is the “Ma¬ 
chine” is not satisfied with robbing the people through trick¬ 
ery and fraud, it does its work at times like the highway 
robber, with revolver to the head of its victim and a com¬ 
mand to stand and deliver. 


There are times when all the refined art of parliamen¬ 
tary “hocuspocus” and legislative juggling, will not avail. 
In spite of all these, some measure which is regarded as 
"“dangerous” to the “Machine” has been advanced on the 
calendar until it is up for third reading and final passage. 
There is a peril in a roll call upon it, for then the “Ma¬ 
chine” men will have to go on record and their action will 
be made public for their constituents to see and consider. 

The “Machine” has no liking for such publicity, it 
likes rather to perform its work behind the scenes, in the 
dark of the moon and with the lights turned out. It 
therefore decides that no roll call shall be taken and it 
has gone and will go to astounding lengths to prevent the 
recording of the votes of members, a right which is guar¬ 
anteed under the rules themselves. 

When the “Machine” is not working like a thief in the 


84 


night, it does its work like a masked highwayman in mid¬ 
day, when it is not stealth, it is thuggery, but the mask is 
always in place. 


In 1911 both methods were used with success. The 
most glaring instance of open robbery came in connection 
with the constitutional amendment providing for the Initia¬ 
tive and Referendum. It was presented for the first time 
in the history of the Pennsylvania Legislature by the writer. 
With energetic efforts in its behalf from the very first day 
of the session, the measure was slowly advanced through the 
shoals. United States Senators Clapp, of Minnesota, and 
Owens, of Oklahoma, appeared before the committee to 
which it was referred and urged that it be reported favor¬ 
ably to the House. The American Federation of Labor, 
the State Grange, and a host of progressive organizations 
sent innumerable petitions to the members asking that it 
be supported. It was finally placed upon the calendar and 
passed first and second readings late in the session. It was 
declared to be the intention of the leaders to give it a posi¬ 
tion where it would not be reached for a vote, but the ef¬ 
forts of members whose measures were in the same posi¬ 
tion forced the concession that all measures upon the cal¬ 
endar would be acted upon. 


When only a few days of the session remained, the 
measure came up for third reading. The writer and half 
a dozen other members demanded a roll call as soon as 
they had finished their arguments in its behalf. In spite 


85 


of this fact, the vote was called viva voce, and when that 
showed overwhelmingly in its favor, a rising vote was called. 

The following statement made to the writer and Repre¬ 
sentative Mcjunkin, of Butler county, by one of the pages, 
who was over twenty-one years of age, will explain the 
circumstances of that vote. He says: 


% 

“I was present as page in the House of Representatives 
on the afternoon of Friday, May 19th, 1911, at my post 
of duty in front of the clerk’s desk. When the House Bill 
presented by M. Clyde Kelly, of Allegheny county, provid¬ 
ing for the Initiative and Referendum was reached on the 
calendar, the question ‘Will the House agree to the bill on 
third reading?’ was put by the Speaker. Upon a call for 
a division, the Speaker directed that all who were in favor 
of the motion rise and be counted by the clerk, and after 
those voting to agree to the bill on third reading were counted, 
the Speaker directed those opposed to rise. The count of 
those voting was made by the clerks, and when they had 
ascertained the result, in my hearing and in the hearing 
of the Speaker, one of them exclaimed, ‘My God, they have 
beaten us, what will we do?’ In my hearing and in the 
hearing of the Speaker, the other answered, ‘Reverse the 
figures.’ Whereupon this was done, and the Speaker an¬ 
nounced from the chair that 50 gentlemen having voted in 
the affirmative, and 59 in the negative, the bill is not agreed 
to on third reading and falls.’ ” 

By such contemptible thuggery as that, the measure 


86 


which would give the people control of their own govern¬ 
ment, was brazenly bludgeoned. That was not the end, for 
when a determined effort was made to have the right of 
roll call, as provided by the rules, a riot followed, which 
exceeded in bitterness anything seen on the floor of the 
House of Representatives. Every spectator and every news¬ 
paper correspondent, even those of “Machine” newspapers, 
united in the statement that the riot was due solely to the 
highway tactics of those in control. 


When the School Code was considered on third reading, 
Section 9, providing for a State Board, was made the bene¬ 
ficiary of exactly the same kind of open cheating. The sec¬ 
tion was stricken out by the votes of the members, but 
the figures were reversed and announced. The section is 
a part of Pennsylvania’s code today. 


There is a deadly menace in such tactics on the part of 
those in authority, who refuse fair and just requests. There 
is a limit to forbearance and that limit is reached when those 
clothed with power scorn decency and ridicule common jus¬ 
tice. Those who witnessed the outbreak in the House on 
that afternoon which narrowly escaped writing its record 
in blood, were struck most deeply by the blind rage of quiet 
and unassuming men, when they felt that they had been 
grievously wronged and outraged. There were men on 
that occasion, regarded as the quietest members of the 
House, who in that moment, were transformed into violent 
and unheeding fighters. The last straw had been added to 


87 


the burden of injustice and these men saw “red” and de¬ 
manded vengeance. 

They seized weapons, they were in the very thick of the 
fray and these unassuming, patient, peace loving men would 
have killed or have been killed in utter abandon of anger. 
The fighting blood of ancestors who had battled for free¬ 
dom, and justice and equality, boiled in their veins and 
made them reckless of consequences. 

If such a spirit can on occasion dominate men like these, 
used to seeing the “gag” system in operation and consid¬ 
ering it very much as a matter of course: men in the minor¬ 
ity and hopeless of success, what shall we say of the result 
when the mass of the people see the extent of such betrayal 
and the depths of such wrongs. 

Human nature is the same today in Pennsylvania as in 
France a hundred and twenty years ago. Sow the same 
seeds of cruel oppression on the part of those in power, the 
same brutal disregard of justice and the harvest shall, by 
the very laws of nature, be the same. 

True, the people have the right of the ballot in the 
election of Representatives, but when the sacredness of the 
ballot is violated, when the will of the people is thwarted 
by lawless clubbing of Representatives, as is done so often 
in a “Machine” Legislature, what is to be the outcome? 

It is eternally true that any “Machine“ which usurps 


88 


the powers of government and maintains that stolen power 
by reckless and brutal oppression, is forcing a condition of 
anarchy. And those who form parts of the “Machine” are 

the anarchists of today, not those who try to remedy such 

% 

conditions and prevent such results. 

Upon the “Machine” system rests the responsibility for 
many wrongs, the burdens of unjust taxation made neces¬ 
sary by criminal extravagance, the looting of the public 
treasury, the clubs swung over men in all walks of life 
through debasing laws, the assaults on the rights of the 
many to add to the fortunes of the few, the tears falling 
from the eyes of Childhood, denied its just protection, all 
these are gathering in clouds before the throne of a just 
God. If they are allowed to continue, without a preventa¬ 
tive effort on the part of the people, those clouds will some 
day descend in a storm of blood and woe. 


Chapter fll 


HOW THE PEOPLE FOOT THE BILES. 


“Hither, ye blind, from your futile banding. 

Know the right and the right is won. 

Wrong shall die with the understanding. 

One truth clear and the work is done.” 

— O'Reilly. 


The “Machine” system of politics is an expensive one 
for it requires an astonishing amount of “oil.” Every man 
who forms a part of it is a mercenary, and demands his 
wages on the nail. If it is to continue, there must be vast 
funds set aside for maintainance, for the organization must 
extend into every nook and corner of the Commonwealth. 
The money necessary to keep up this extensive Black Flag 
army must come either from the state treasury directly or 
by the sale of special privileges to those who can recoup in 
the channels of commerce. 


90 


The “Machine” has on occasions spent a million dollars 
to control the Legislature. That stupendous sum was paid 
out, not for sentimental reasons, but for full value received 
and the people footed the bill in the end. 

When one sees the gigantic army of the “Machine” in 
the state, every soldier enlisted in it a Hessian who must 
be paid; when one sees the collossal sums of money neces¬ 
sary to carry elections, then the innumerable bills to raise 
revenue presented each session of the Legislature, seems 
easier to understand. Funds are imperative if the system 
is to continue and the graft and corruption become greater 
by geometric progression. The state capitol steal grew 
225 per cent during the very process of plundering. 

Each session of the Legislature sees a number of rev¬ 
enue raisers introduced. Each one reads “An Act Laying 
a Tax on” something or other. It should read, “An 
Act to Tax the People.” That is exactly what it is for while 
the bills are ostensibly to tax this corporation or that com¬ 
modity, it comes back at last to the ultimate consumer on 
whose shoulders the burdens are laid. 

But that fact aside, the tax system of the state is one 
of gross iniquity. The tax laws are evaded openly by the 
large corporations in many instances, but there are few 
cases where the poorest private citizens do not pay their 
full toll for the expense of government. 

Representative Rumsey, of Potter county, in his argu- 


91 


ment for his plan of equal taxation presented at the 1911 
session, showed a number of violations of the law coming 
under his own observation. 

He cited the case of the Coudersport and Port Alle¬ 
gheny Railroad Company, whose lines are wholly within 
the state. This company is capitalized at $300,000, has a 
funded debt of $245,000, and its gross earnings in 1909 
were $118,492. These figures are taken from the report 
of the Secretary of Internal Affairs, page 74. 


The law requires the payment of five mills on the 
capital stock, four mills on the funded debt and eight mills 
on the gross receipts wholly within the state. Yet the re¬ 
port of the taxes received from this company as given 
in the Auditor General’s report for 1909, page 245, shows 
less than two mills on the funded debt, and $67.27 on gross 
earnings of $118,492. 

This company does not have the evasion of most rail¬ 
road companies for its lines are wholly within the state, 
extending across Potter and McKean counties. 

The Potter Gas Company, a corporation existing un¬ 
der the laws of Pennsylvania, and engaged in producing 
natural gas from the gas fields of McKean and Potter 
counties, and delivering it to its customers in boroughs and 
cities, has a capitalization of $1,750,000. By the Auditor 
General’s report for 1909, page 89, it is shown that it paid 


92 


on its capital stock and funded debt, approximately 1.3 
mills. 

The incorporated telephone and telegraph companies 
of Pennsylvania return an aggregate capitalization of $214,- 
696,343, as shown in the report of the Secretary of Internal 
Affairs, for 1908, page 275. Yet the report of the Audi¬ 
tor General shows that they pay one and a fourth mills only 
upon this amount. 

Representative Rumsey went further and quoted many 
other companies who were shown in the printed reports to 
be violating the laws. Needless to say, his bill for more 
equal taxation, was ruthlessly slaughtered, being adversely 
reported by the committee and overwhelmingly defeated 
when it came to a vote later in the session. 

Then there is the Mercantile Tax, a tax which has 
nothing whatever to commend it from the public welfare 
standpoint, or from any standpoint except that of a “Ma¬ 
chine.” The writer in 1911 introduced a measure repealing 
this tax and the bitterness of the “Machine” legislators to¬ 
wards it proved how important a cog it is in the system. It 
requires a special force of appraisers and collectors, clerks 
etc., and thus provides berths for faithful henchmen. 

The writer in his argument in support of the measure 
on the floor of the House of Representatives said: “The 
Mercantile Tax is a sham, a farce and a humbug. It is un¬ 
just and discriminatory. It is unnecessary. It is a tax 


93 


upon industry and effort. It is a tax upon ignorance or 
honesty. It lowers the tone of business life and gives the 
advantage to the unscrupulous dealer. It rests upon the 
principle of self assessment which is inherently wrong. Its 
burden comes at last to the shoulders of the man least 
able to stand it, the consumer. It is uneconomically han¬ 
dled, is assessed in careless and inexcusable fashion, and 
the cost of collecting and the cost of paying it is out of all 
reason. 


“It is a means of fastening upon the people still more 
securely the shackles of the ‘Machine.’ In it is seen the 
travesty of forcing business men to contribute to the sup¬ 
port of an organization in politics which has injured honest 
business in the state more than any other one thing. 

“Its small army of so-called assessors are simply mes¬ 
senger boys, who take blanks around and then gather them 
up again. They go to a merchant and either say in effect 
‘Will you please tell us how much you think you ought to 
pay?’ or ‘We have figured it out and believe you ought to 
pay so much of this tax. If you object, come in and tell 
us why.’ ” 

It is hardly necessary to say in this case, either, that 
the measure was defeated, every influence of the “Machine” 
being directed against it. 


More than fifty millions of dollars are collected in taxes 


94 


each year in the Keystone State. Out of the swollen treas¬ 
ury, come inevitably, crooked, dishonest, schemes of loot 
and plunder. The Capitol steal, with its millions of stolen 
funds and its wake of disgrace, death and dishonor was 
the natural outcome of such conditions. That another such 
black chapter may yet be written in connection with the 
state asylum at Rittersville is a very present possibility. 

The people foot the bills of corruption, fraud and 
graft in the end. They must always meet such obligations, 
too, when a “Machine” system of government is in con¬ 
trol. Is it not the part of common sense for every indi¬ 
vidual citizen to do his part to end such conduct of affairs 
and instead of rooting out Capitol Steals and Rittersville 
Loots, take a blow at the system which makes them pos¬ 
sible, yes, inevitable ? 


Chapter Jill 


THE APPROPRIATION BRACK JACK. 

“Shall I bend low and in a bondsman's key, 

With bated breath and whispering humbleness, 

Say this?” 

— Shakespeare. 

It requires more than two or three crooked politicians 
or weak kneed Legislators to produce “Machine” made 
legislation. In a legislative body, it requires a majority of 
the members, an unscrupulous Speaker and dependable em¬ 
ployes to make the system complete. The first requirements 
is a majority of the members and to that end the “Machine” 
leaders bend all their efforts for the first few weeks of the 
session. 

One of the most potent arguments in securing the 
necessary support of the members is the promise of ap- 


96 


propriations for “good” behavior and the threat of their 
loss in consequence of “bad” behavior. 

There is scarcely a district in the State that does not 
have some institution that desires State aid. Local charities 
of all kinds engage in a general scramble for State funds 
and the Representatives of the district are expected to secure 
them. The importance of this is impressed upon the new 
Representative by influential citizens, often of the very highest 
character, and he goes to Harrisburg with the idea in his 
mind that his success or failure will hinge upon the size of 
the appropriation he is able to secure. 


He comes in contact at once with men, with whom 
mind reading is second nature. They learn without delay 
that he desires something for the institutions “back home.” 
They assure him that he will be taken care of if he goes 
along. It is not long before he realizes just what that 
means in all its bearings. He votes for the slated candidate 
for Speaker on the strength of it, and is able to soothe his 
conscience on the ground that he has voted for the choice 
of his party against the choice of the other party. But, 
shortly, a measure comes before the Legislature which hq 
feels he cannot support in justice to himself and his con¬ 
stituents. He goes to the leaders and tells them his objec¬ 
tions. Little attention is paid to his scruples by the 
“Machine” men at first and they attempt to laugh him out 
of his Quixotic attitude. If he accepts the condition, well 
and good, but if he persists in his opposition, he soon per¬ 
ceives the iron fist beneath the velvet glove. 


97 


With a brutal ferocity, he is told that he can do as he 
pleases. If he votes against the measure he will be put 
upon the ‘'black list” to go home without an appropriation 
for his district. That brings him face to face with a 
crisis, whether to follow the dictates of his conscience and 
be true to his manhood and his better self, while he gets 
nothing for his district, or to weakly submit to this tyranny 
and go home crowned with the success of achievement. 

It is the age old question of the justification of bad 
means to attain good ends. The puzzled Legislator gets 
little sympathy from a majority of his fellows for they have 
faced the same question and chosen the easy way. If he 
succumbs, his sense of honor and self respect is dulled and 
almost before he realizes it he is a cog in the “Machine’' 
and his vote is considered safe and secure on every question. 

The club of appropriations is the most contemptible 
as it is the most effective factor in securing the “Machine” 
majority necessary. The writer has seen it wielded with 
brutal force time after time. He has seen members with 
tears in their eyes following the orders of the “Whip” on 
vicious legislation, simply because they dared not go home 
empty handed of appropriations. 

Worst of all, this feature of “Machine” legislation is 
due in large part to the people of the district. Many other 
phases of the system are due to “Bossism” directly, but the 
responsibility for this must be placed elsewhere. While the 
Chairman of the Appropriations committee is always an 


arrant tool of the “Machine” and uses his power always 
with that end in view, still the force in his threats and the 
bloom in his promises come in the fact that the Representa¬ 
tive'” knows the conditions he faces in his own district. 

One member of the Legislature in discussing this 
question said, “My people look on the State treasury as a 
grab bag. I am expected to get my share of the loot for 
my district and the more I can get the stronger I am. If 
I don’t get anything, I don’t come back.” That member 
was really being forced to betray the people into the hands 
of the “Machine” by the people who would suffer by such 
betrayal. One member can get nothing by himself. He must 
combine with others, who also want something, and in the : 
end the people of the entire State have been bribed by money 
taken out of their own pockets. 

For after all, this Appropriation money is not some 
mysterious stream of gold that comes from nowhere. Every 
dollar is collected from the citizens of the State in taxes. 
As some one has said, “the State is a pauper and she is 
always passing the hat.” Pennsylvania lays many taxes 
upon her citizens. It is high time for them to tax them¬ 
selves with the fact that they pay into the treasury every 
cent which comes out in appropriations. Even if every 
district got back in appropriations every cent it pays in 
taxes, still the cost of collection must be taken out, which 
proves that such a policy would be a very poor business 
transaction. But when a district gets only a small fraction 
of the money it pays in, and that pittance is made the chain 


99 



which binds Representatives in subjection to a corrupt 
“Machine” the full iniquities of the system will be under¬ 
stood. 

It is not hard to understand the attitude of many good 
people on this subject. They have with the best intentions 
in the world, started a charitable institution, a hospital, 
asylum, laboratory or something of the kind. It is a worthy 
project and yet taxes the ability of the community to sup¬ 
port it. The founders see other institutions receiving State 
aid and the question arises as to why they should not have 
something of assistance from this general storehouse. They 
apply through their Representative and he is at once 
brought face to face with the problem. 


Too many times, he is assured of the support of the 
leading citizens of his district if he will secure the ap- 
propriation. Too often, he sells himself to comply with 
their demands and the price of his honor is received with 
thanksgiving and joy by the very people whom he has 
betrayed in their wider interests as citizens of the Common¬ 
wealth. 


The present system simply means that all these approp¬ 
riations are regarded as political assets to be parcelled out 
to the faithful. They are used in buying support, directly 
and indirectly, a bribery peculiarly vicious and reprehensible. 
It is a system which delights the “Machine” since it gives 
it the power to collect millions in taxes from the citizens, 


100 


and entrench itself in power while it pays back a part of 
the funds it has collected. 

If the people of Pennsylvania really desire to put an 
end to the evils of legislation by “Machine” they must 
demand th&t their Legislature represent, not a part of the 
people but all the people. They must demand that their 
own Representatives do not sacrifice the best interests of the 
entire State, because they may secure a handful of the loot 
in the grab bag. They must even reach the point where 
they will vote against any Representative who trades off 
the interests of all the people for their own interests. 

The “Machine” system flourishes when it can play one 
district against the other, trading special privileges in one 
instance for special privileges in another. 

Appropriations for certain institutions and certain dis¬ 
tricts are proper and Representatives should be able to 
describe the needs and point out the requirements. But at 
present in Pennsylvania, a general appropriation bill, authoriz¬ 
ing the expenditure of twenty-five millions of dollars, is 
held in committee during the entire session, simply as a 
club with which to bludgeon Representatives into line for 
measures prejudicial to the common good. 

Don’t be misled by that “Machine” criticism of a 
Representative, “He didn’t get anything.” How do you 
get things when the “Machine” is in control? Simply pay 
the price, that’s all. The goods are laid out on the 


101 


counter and marked in plain figures. Its the easiest thing 
in the world, easier than buying a pair of shoes. All that 
is necessary is to say “Yes” when honor, and conscience, 
and the common welfare bids you say “No.” 

Pennsylvania has had enough of that kind of Repre¬ 
sentation to judge its merits. She has seen enough of 
“Machine” rule, the system of spoliation, to know whether 
she wants more of it or not. Conditions will not be 
remedied as long as the people assist, in their demand for 
State aid, regardless of how it is secured, the confederated 
cliques that say of every dollar in the State treasury, “This 
belongs to us, and will be paid out as we decree.” 

One of the changes absolutely necessary in the present 
legislative system, is the substitution for this Appropriation 
club, a system whereby proper State aid may be given proper 
institutions, entirely apart from political considerations, do¬ 
ing away with the vicious, virtue destroying barter and sale 
in the things of philanthropy and charity. 


102 


Chapter flit) 

PADDING THE PAYROLL. 

“Injustice, swift, erect and unconfined, 

Sweeps the whole earth and tramples o'er mankind. 

— Homer. 

Into the State treasury of Pennsylvania is dumped 
each year the sum of fifty odd millions of dollars. That 
money is spent out again by legislative enactment, so that 
the Legislature in reality controls the expenditures of the 
State’s money. 

That fifty odd millions is public funds, that is, it 
belongs to the people of the State. The purpose of this 
chapter is to call to the attention of the possessors of that 
wealth, the fact that it is being mishandled and misspent 
by the Representatives whom the people have commissioned 
to attend to that duty. It will well repay the people if the 


103 


lid is lifted off that treasury and it be shown whether so 
much need be spent. To learn if the people are getting 
the results they should get for the money spent or whether 
large sums of money are dribbling away through various 
cracks and crevices unseen to the public eye. To see 
whether men or sets of men are tapping the vaults and 
carrying off their loot from the sum of the people’s funds. 

If it be true that the people’s money is being used to 
enslave them, to enforce the mastery of the “Machine” 
over the welfare of the people, then it becomes of prime 
importance that the truth be understood and prompt action 
taken. 

Figures are tiresome things generally to the people— 
but they are not in the least tiresome to the pilfering 
politicians of Pennsylvania. A little arithmetic on an 
occasion like this ought at least to be justified when the 
problems we figure are those which vitally concern our 
individual pocketbooks. 

First of all, then, the Legislature is the source of au¬ 
thority in spending the people’s money. Common sense 
would decree that in order to handle those funds judiciously, 
the Legislature should act in a systematic and business like 
manner. 

That it does not use such a method is beyond dispute. 
On the contrary the present legislative system of conduct¬ 
ing business, if applied to a bank or private business enter- 


104 


prise would wreck it in a month. The only reason that 
prevents the State from going into bankruptcy as the private 
business would do if it were managed under the same con¬ 
ditions, is that the State government can always collect more 
money in taxes and licenses, while the private concern has 
no such golden stream of increase. 


The Legislature is the business manager of the State. 
Suppose a business manager of a private concern were to 
employ as assistants in his place of business, people who 
knew nothing of the duties they were expected to perform 
and lacked the capacity to gain such knowledge. Suppose 
he were to employ men who had no interest or motive but 
to draw their pay, men whose discreditable records in the 
past were the only qualifications for the positions thus 
given. Besides all that, suppose that this business manager 
would employ ten times as many men as necessary, pay them 
several times as much as is paid for such work, even 
efficiently performed, and then regularly advance their 
salaries, simply as a matter of course. 


Any person of ordinary intelligence would laugh at 
such suppositions and to call any man who would use them, 
an intelligent and capable business manager would be the 
height of absurdity. 


But the immense business of the Government of Penn¬ 
sylvania is conducted on just such principles. Not only has 
the business manager of this vast establishment done all 


105 


these absurd things, it has done others still more reckless 
and suicidal. 

# 

This business manager, comprising the Legislature, has 
resigned its own judgment, and given up the personal direc¬ 
tion of the affairs of its employers, the people, into the hands 
of the “Machine.” This “Machine” has taken control of 
the business and has operated it to suit its own sweet will. 


The employes of the Legislature make up a very form¬ 
idable pay roll and the total outlay amounts to hundreds of 
thousands of dollars. The stage setting of that farce- 
comedy-tragedy is a very expensive one and a stupendous 
number of stage hands are needed. They labor under 
various names but the positions are generally similar in 
one respect and that is the vast amount of heavy standing 
around included in each. 

For instance, in the House of Representatives there are 
seven assistant sergeants at arms. Just what their duties 
are, none can tell, for none ever saw them all on duty. Still 
they draw $7 per day and that means every day, seven days 
a week from the first of January to the day of adjourn¬ 
ment. Many weeks there are but three sessions, but these 
assistant sergeants at arms and all other employes of the 
House and Senate receive full pay for seven days each 
week. 


Then there are ten assistant door keepers. These 


106 


receive $6 per day and every day. They have nothing to do 
with keeping doors and in fact, signing the pay roll is 
the most arduous task of most of these valiant servants of 
the State. If genuine ease and blissful lassitude were 
desired, one might well paraphrase that remark of the 
psalmist of old and say “I had rather be a door keeper in 
the House of Representatives than dwell in a land where 
people work.” 

Then there are ten pasters and folders in the folding 
room. One boy may be seen in the mailing room of any 
newspaper doing more work than the entire force but 
they draw $6 per day and every day for serving the state. 

The overworked committees have ten clerks at $7 per 
day. The work of some of these clerks during an entire 
session could be calculated on a miscroscopic weighing 
machine but they are scrupulously faithful and exact in 
affixing their signatures to the pay roll. 

Then, too, there are custodians for the committee 
rooms. These rooms are cleaned and cared for by janitors 
and what the custodians have to do with them would be a 
mystery fit for the deductive sagacity of a Sherlock Holmes. 
Custodians are also necessary for the wash and cloak 
rooms. These latter rooms in the House alone cost $24 
a day and every day, to be custodied. The work was done 
by a “sub” who got $2 a day for his labors. The regular 
appointees through this convenient arrangement did not 
have to show up at all, but each received $6 a day just the 
same. 


107 


The basement has a custodian on the pay roll. Nobody 
ever found either the duties or the custodian. And so it 
goes. There are a host of other officers but these are enough 
to show the shameless and outrageous waste of public funds. 
The House is bad enough in all conscience but the Senate is 
worse. The fifty Senators have eighty employes to do the 
work required of them, if work it may be called. 

All of this army of parasites, and this refers only to 
useless employes, received $6 and $7 per day from the first 
day of the session until the last. 

One would think that the unheard of system of paying 
for every day would be quite sufficient in padding the pay 
roll, but the business managers of Pennsylvania are not 
even satisfied with that arrangement. The first ten days 
of the session witness double pay on scores of positions. 
That is, the employes held over from the previous session, 
receive their pay for the first ten days. If their places are 
filled by new appointees, these new patriots receive pay for 
that ten days also, their salaries dating back to the first day 
of the session. 

That little feature is a masterpiece of skillful manage¬ 
ment on the part of the “Machine.” It tones down the 
disappointment of those who cannot be taken care of and 
the new men suffer no loss. Only the State loses, but that 
as Kipling would say “is another story” with the “Machine.” 

This padding of the pay roll numerically is but one 


108 


feature of reckless and criminal extravagance. Each session 
witnesses “salary raisers” of many and varied kinds. In 
1911, for instance, the salary of the secretary to the Governor 
was fixed at $5,000, just double the amount previously paid. 
Then the office of Secretary of the Senate was created. 
This is a position as useful to the best interests of the State 
as the fifth wheel of a wagon, but it pays $5,000 a year and 
that means each and every year, when the Senate is in 
session and when there is no session. - 

The number of officers is simply enormous, so many 
in fact that the $13,000,000 capitol has not room enough for 
all and the State is paying rent for quarters outside the 
Capitol in order to accomodate some of the departments 
and the host of State employes. 

Almost every bill carries provisions for new employes, 
The Sproul Road law alone calls for an army of them and 
means an expenditure of almost $200,000 for employes and 
this expense continues annually. The wholesale raise of 
judges salaries also added more than a quarter of a million 
dollars to the annual pay roll of the State. 

These are only a few of the instances that might be 
given to show the leaks and crevices through which the 
people’s money is dripping into voracious and insatiate 
hands. Fifty millions is an immense sum of money. A five 
per cent waste or graft would be a fortune to a man or set 
of men. A five per cent saving would also mean consider¬ 
able to the people of the State. 


109 


Worst of all, much of this padding of the pay roll, 
is not to pay for service to the State, but for work for the 
“Machine” in campaigns past and to come. Most of it is 
“Machine” pay with the people’s money for the betrayal 
of the peoples rights. 

It will be a most profitable investment for the people 
of Pennsylvania when they trace the responsibility for this 
criminal waste of public funds and put a stop to it. That 
will only be done when the “Machine” is put out of business. 


110 


Chapter |ID 

LAST NIGHT ORGIES. 

“Who in or out, who moves this grand machine. Nor stirs 

my curiosity nor spleen. 

Secrets of State no more I wish to know, Than secret 

movements of a puppet show. 

Let but the puppets move, Tve my desire, unseen the hand 

which guides the master wire. 

— Churchill. 

The last night of each legislative session is an institu¬ 
tion, the like of which exists nowhere else on earth. It is 
a combination of lawmaking, vaudeville, disorder and Bedlam. 
Spectators crowd the legislative halls to witness it, and 
laugh at its garish, slap stick comedy, but few seem to 
realize its real importance in a “Machine” system of legisla¬ 
tion. 


Ill 


The session lasts all night, from eight o’clock in the 
evening until six in the morning. At midnight a lunch is 
spread in the basement and here the members refresh them¬ 
selves for the further duties which await them. Plenty of 
liquid refreshment is on hand to cheer the weary and worn 
Legislators. 

From the very beginning of the session to its end, the 
sights and sounds beggar description. All restraint is 
thrown off and a veritable dance of the demons follows. 
Each member has been accumulating through the term, bills 
and reports and calendars that make huge stacks on his 
desk. Tens of thousands of large pages of printed matter 
are contained in these files furnished by the State. 

The use for them is over on the last night and they do 
not last long in the closing session of the term. The pages 
are torn from the files by hundreds, divided into small 
scraps and then sent fluttering over the room. Before many 
hours have passed the floor is littered feet deep with these 
scraps and then they are hurled back and forth across the 
room in a very abandon of disorder. Shouts and yells of 
laughter and ridicule add to the uproar. Heavy covers of 
books and files are shot here and there and at every “hit” 
an outbreak ensues. One of these striking a person in the 
eye would destroy the sight or inflict a serious wound, but 
this possibility has no effect upon the spirit of the celebrat¬ 
ing lawmakers. 

Some members have provided themselves with water 


112 


pistols and squirt guns and they operate these with great 
eclat and to the vociferous admiration of observers. Others 
scorning such make shifts, provide themselves with tin cups 
full of water and scatter these broad cast about the room. 

This uproarious disorder would be bad enough even 
among school boys out for a lark, but when you consider 
that here is the lawmaking body of a great State at work, 
you realize the situation. For in the midst of this confusion 
and turmoil, bills are being enacted into law. This last 
night marks the consideration of some of the most im¬ 
portant measures of the session, which have been held up 
in conferences between the two houses. They are reported 
in from time to time and the vote taken. Few know the 
bill being voted upon and few can hear the roll call. The 
clerk drones out the names, skipping them by the dozen. 
At the conclusion of the roll call the result is announced as 
“Two hundred and seven in favor of the bill” amid a 
hilarious shout of the revellers. If any have voted against 
the bill they are forced to rise and demand that they be so 
recorded and while standing they are a fair target for paper 
missiles and water charges. 


Then during the interim between measures, while 
conference committees are still debating, there comes vaude¬ 
ville and music. The Speaker will call upon some member 
to sing a song. He refuses and a half dozen members seize 
him and hoist him to their shoulders. He is carried down 
the aisle and unceremoniously dumped upon the rostrum. 


113 


He is cheered and catcalled until he steps down to give place 
to the next victim. 

9 

An orchestra and quartette is also in attendance to 
while away the hours and give the members no chance to 
realize the responsibilities of the session. 

Nothing could be more dangerous to the rights of the 
people and nothing more effective to advance the interests 
of the “Machine.” It is the time of clean up, when measures 
which have been held up during the entire session are rioted 
into law. Many times a measure is known to have public 
sentiment overwhelmingly against it. After having been 
forced through one House it is kept in the secret places of 
the other until the last night. Then it is brought out and 
jammed through, its supporters knowing that it will not be 
given due attention during the melee of last night. 

The hours wear themselves out, and by three o’clock 
far less than the number of members necessary for a 
quorum are in attendance. But there are still bills to be acted 
upon and the Speaker rides roughshod over any demand for 
a poll of the House. Dozens of bills are passed under 
absolutely false pretense and falsely entered upon the 
Legislative Journal. With but seventy-five members present, 
the rolls have been padded to twice that number and the 
Journal shows a clear record. 

If it is asked why it is not possible to appeal to the 
courts for redress in such cases, the answer comes in the 


114 


fact that the court will not go beyond the legislative records 
in acting upon laws. Therefore, when the Journal is pro¬ 
duced with the names of the majority who voted for the 
measure, it is taken as prima facia evidence that the measure 
was regularly enacted. 

In many cases, the names were fraudulently placed upon 
the roll, but it is only a part of the “hocus pocus” of 
“Machine” legislation. Can anything be imagined more 
dangerous than law making under such conditions as these 
last night orgies. Without the possibility of consideration 
or discussion, in the midst of disorder and tumult, without 
even the constitutional majority present, bills are enacted 
into law and'become sacred things, which must be obeyed. 
Violate one of the provisions and see how quickly heavy 
handed justice follows. Still, in their conception, in their 
enactment, these measures may have been illegal and uncon¬ 
stitutional and without the slightest shadow of justice. 

i 

There is a menace in such a system as that, since no 
government can long endure when the people lose their 
reverence for the laws and their faith in the justice of their 
making. Sooner or later, an outbreak will come and the 
black flag of Anarchy be the rallying banner of outraged 
citizens. Is it not the part of wisdom to deal with this 
menace at once, to stamp out this “Machine” domination 
which assaults the very foundations of a free government? 

The last night, with its moil and clangor, is the practical 
wind up of the term. Nothing is left when the sleepy 


115 


and irritable Legislators assemble after a few hours at¬ 
tempted rest, but to listen to oily tongued eulogies of the 
officials of the houses. From the very first day of the ses¬ 
sion, papers have been circulated among the members who 
are asked to pledge donations for officers and employes, 
from pages to chief clerk. By the end of the session, 
thousands of dollars have been collected in this manner and 
expended in valuable presents. These are laid out upon 
the Speaker’s rostrum and on the last day they are presented 
to those for whom they were purchased. 

From the Speaker down, each receives his gift after a 
ilowery and eulogistic speech has been delivered by some 
-.member. This presentation of “tokens of esteem” is a 
travesty and a farce, but it has become an established custom. 
It is a fitting finale to a consistent plan of action which puts 
courtesy above conscience, jollity above justice, good fellow¬ 
ship above good government. 


116 


Chapter PH 


THE TREASON OE A SENATOR. 

“Thy voyage is by uncharted coasts, 

Where white fanged breakers reel, 

The barnacles of fifty years, 

Have fouled thy rotting keel, 

A blind man from the fore chains peers, 

A knave is at the wheel. 

— Baird. 

In a niche in the balcony of the State Capitol at Harris¬ 
burg stands a marble statue of Matthew Stanley Quay, 
with his stony eyes fixed fair on the State treasury which 
in life he looted and plundered. It is the only statue of the 
kind although there are other niches provided for those who 
follow Quay in the great task of running the State 
“Machine.” 


117 


Above the statue runs the motto previously referred to, 
“That we may do the thing that is truly wise and just. That 
my God may make it the seed of a nation.” The marble 
likeness of Quay, the Corrupt and Corrupter, is directly 
under the words, “My God” as they are painted high 
above. As the eye rests upon the statue of this man who 
laid the foundations of State wide debauchery and crime 
and then lifts to the words above, they seem to form an 
ejaculation not altogether unseemly. When a flashlight 
photograph was taken some time since of the magnificent 
balcony of the Capitol, the features in bold relief were this 
statue of Quay and the words above. All else was shrouded 
in gloom. 


But even Quay, with all his wiles and wisdom, did not 
equal in brutal tyranny his successor in the U. S. Senate 
and as head of the Pennsylvania “Machine.” Senator Pen¬ 
rose has been the most brazen and despotic political boss 
this country has ever known. He has outdone Croker, with 
his Tammany Hall, Platt, with his Express company, Ruef, 
of California, or Butler of Missouri, or any other political 
manipulator who has ruled with tyrannical hand against the 
people’s interests. They must one and all bow to Boies 
Penrose, as absolute dictator of the destinies of Pennsylvania. 

The Penrose influence extends into every county and 
district of the State and affects nominations and elections, 
thus polluting the fountain of Government at its very 
source. This slimy trail of treason extends through precinct 
and ward and city and county, each dovetailing into the 


118 


other, the combined unity forming the “Machine” which has 
in the past laughed at the citizenship of the State and 
scorned the public time and again. Every detail of control 
is looked after and the work is done between elections as 
well as during campaigns, while the ordinary good citizen 
is busied in the every day affairs of life. 


In the conduct of a Legislature, the “Boss” is the power 
behind the throne. To carry out his orders, all this system 
of stealth and thuggery has been arranged and perfected. 
The Speaker is but his mouthpiece and the work of com¬ 
mittees, caucuses and like instruments simply carry into 
execution the will of the master. This is publicly and 
brazenly avowed by his tools as was witnessed during the ses¬ 
sion of 1911 when bitter opponents of the Greater Pittsburgh 
Grab act wrote to the Speaker regarding the probable dis¬ 
position of that measure. His written answer conveyed in 
so many words the fact that Penrose and only Penrose 
could decide that question. 


When the Judges Pension bill, a notoriously unjust 
measure, was defeated in the House on third reading, a 
large number of members received personal telegrams from 
Penrose. The bill was reconsidered, there was a wonderful 
change in the judgment of Representatives and the bill went 
through with votes to spare. 


The “Boss” does not sit on the rostrum with the pre¬ 
siding officer. He doesn’t have to take that trouble, although 


119 


that fact was the ground for felicitations on the part of one 
old member of the House, during the 1911 session: His 
reverence for the name of the party he believed himself to be 
a member of, never faltered or failed. “I don’t like to hear 
this talk of Penrose being a “Boss” he said, “I have been 
here seven weeks now and I haven’t seen Penrose in the 
Speaker’s chair a single day.” 

No, the master of the “Machine” does not have to take 
the trouble to come to Harrisburg. He makes his creatures 
come to him to receive his orders. Through the entire ses¬ 
sion, he summons the presiding officers, chairmen of com¬ 
mittees and almost every Sunday is spent in Philadelphia in 
these dark conspiracies. 

It is not to be understood that “Penrose” or any “Boss” 
contains within his own person all the elements of power 
which make “Machine” rule such a menace to the Common¬ 
wealth. Back of him must stand officials who have entered 
into a compact to betray the people for private gain. Back 
of them in turn must stand the human parasites who make 
politics their business and in every district organize the 
thugs and soaks, the thoughtless, irresponsible and purchas¬ 
able elements of population. But the truth remains that 
only a “Boss,” brutal, remorseless and corrupt, can mould 
all these elements into a powerful organization and hold 
them in a solidly united entity. 

And the “Boss” to have and to hold his power of exact¬ 
ing obedience from the selfish and scheming tricksters, who 


120 


follow him, must have a power of State wide patronage 
aside from the State “Machine.” He must have a power 
outside the State in order to compel obedience, to make good 
his promises and threats. 


That fact explains why every “Boss” of State wide 
power in Pennsylvania has been a United States Senator. 
The Camerons, Quay, Penrose, have each, from a vantage 
point in the highest legislative body in the nation, ruled 
Pennsylvania with a rod of iron and scourged it with whips 
of scorpions. It explains also why the stream of political 
corruption, when tapped anywhere in the State, leads to 
Harrisburg and from thence to the U. S. Senate at Wash¬ 
ington. 

United States Senators are elected by the Legislature, 
which is comparatively easy to control, much easier than 
the citizenship at large. When the people elected a 
Legislature opposed to Quay, he bought enough members 
to elect him, bought them openly and brazenly. Senators 
Penrose and Oliver have improved upon that plan and spend 
their funds to elect men who will vote for them. 

To the election of U. S. Senators, indirectly at least, 
may be charged the “Machine” system, with its corruption 
and injustice, not only at Harrisburg, but throughout the 
State. 

Therefore the question of electing U. S. Senators by 


121 


direct vote of the people is a vital one in considering means 
of eliminating the iniquities of the “Machine” system. The 
only way to eliminate these evils is for the people to take 
control of their own Government. The authority which 
rests alone in the sovereign hands of the people has been 
delegated in devious ways to persons who in no way repre¬ 
sent the people. 

U. S. Senators do not, by the very nature of their elec¬ 
tion, regard the people as the power which placed them in 
office and that view in Pennsylvania, at least, is undoubtedly 
correct. By corrupt influences, the support of the Legislature 
is secured and the people have no chance to express their 
wish in the matter. This gives a “Boss” of the type of 
Penrose, his opportunity to control politics by entering into 
partisan contests in city and county, dictating the nomina¬ 
tion and election of officials from the highest to the lowest. 
But if the candidate for U. S. Senator was compelled to 
come before the people, asking for their votes, such spectacles 
as are seen at every election in Pennsylvania, would be 
banished. 

Regardless of the arguments for the direct election of 
U. S. Senators, viewed from a national standpoint, and 
every argument of justice is in its favor, it is eternally true 
that it is a vital necessity from the standpoint of Pennsyl¬ 
vania. 

Election by the people will keep separate, national, state 
and local politics. It will mean a higher standard of men 


122 


in the State Legislature. It will mean the election of 
Legislators more upon the simple issue of their fitness for 
the office than their loyalty to a Senatorial candidate. It 
will leave State lawmakers free to do their normal work. 
It will help destroy the despotic political “Machine” of the 
State and will make the people the real source of authority. 
Doing that, it will right many wrongs and at the same time 
be equally just to the people, to the official and to the party. 



123 


Chapter JUKI 


A NEW DECLARATION OE INDEPENDENCE. 

“New occasions teach new duties, Time makes ancient good 

uncouth, 

They must upward still and onward, who would keep abreast 

of Truth. 

Lo } before us gleam her camp fires. We ourselves must 

Pilgrims be, 

Launch our Mayflower and sail boldly through the stormy , 

western sea, 

Nor attempt the Future's portals, with the Past's blood- 

rusted key. — Lowell. 

The writer of this book is making no statements in 
it which he has not publicly proclaimed. As a member of 


124 


the Pennsylvania Legislature, he took the floor time and 
again to protest against the injustice of “gag” rules, com¬ 
mittee and caucus tyranny and despotism of the Speaker. 


On May 19th 1911, while speaking on behalf of the 
Initiative and Referendum, he summed up the system of 
“Machine” control in a description which he believes will 
serve the same purpose here. On page 3027 of the Legisla¬ 
tive Journal for 1911 may be found the following: 

“I would like to be able to define the power that opposes 
the rule of the people. I would like to be able to paint a 
picture and I wish I could make it so clear and vivid and 
truthful that it could be seen in all the highways and byways 
of Pennsylvania. It is a picture of the poisonous power 
that pollutes the politics of this Commonwealth. It is a 
power, shrewd and cunning, but traitorous to its very heart. 
It is a power that has betrayed and will betray its most 
faithful servitors if there is anything to be gained by such 
treachery. And yet it is a power into whose keeping some 
members of this body have given their honor and their self 
respect. 


“I yield to no man in my admiration and respect for the 
principles, ideals and great men of the Republican party. I 
yield to no man in my utter hatred and contempt for the 
masquerading combination that has stolen a noble and re¬ 
vered name and under that mask has plied its vicious trade 
in the name and under the auspices of a stolen government. 


125 


It has cracked the whip over aspirants for office, has de¬ 
bauched and intimidated voters, has manipulated the ballot 
and robbed the ballot box. 


“When even such measures did not avail, it has taken 
the Representative fresh from the people, and through its 
hellish arts has tempted and bribed the weak, coaxed and 
flattered the ambitious and deceived and deluded the un¬ 
suspecting. Through such putrid measures this power has 
controlled Legislatures, has huckstered legislation, has in¬ 
vaded and warped every part of the legislative machinery 
of this State, has betrayed a Commonwealth until hope 
itself is almost gone. 

“That power has robbed a people, brought contempt 
upon a great party and piled difficulty and disgrace upon 
the State of Pennsylvania. It is today the foe of good 
government and good legislation and the friend of bad 
government and bad legislation. Need I express my mean¬ 
ing more definitely? The power to which I refer is simply 
that combination known as the “Machine” of Pennsylvania. 
The power represented there is the deadliest danger in this 
old Commonwealth today.” 

The sentiments in that speech have been denounced 
times without number by “Machine” members but never 
denied. They cannot be denied, even by the most casual 
observer of conditions under a “Machine” system, or the 
most rabid upholder of them. 


126 


If then, they are true, and the description of actual 
conditions as described in these chapters, is true, is it 
not time for Pennsylvanians to end such intolerable condi¬ 
tions ? 


The new Declaration of Independence for Pennsylvania 
could be written with a few changes from the original 
declaration issued by the fathers, under conditions not more 
menacing. 


“When in the course of human events, it becomes 
necessary for the people of a free State to end intolerable 
political conditions by dissolving the tyranny by which they 
are governed, and to regain that measure of freedom to 
which the laws of Nature and Nature’s God entitle them, a 
decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires that they 
should declare the causes which impel them to such action. 


“We hold these truths to be self evident; that all men 
are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator 
with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, 
liberty and the pursuit of happiness under equal conditions 
and equal opportunities; that to secure these rights, govern¬ 
ments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers 
from the consent of the governed; that whenever any out¬ 
growth of government becomes destructive of these ends, 
it is the right and duty of the people to remove it and to 
institute new conditions, laying the foundations on such 
principles and organizing its powers in such forms as to 


127 


them shall seem most likely to assure their safety and their 
happiness. 

“Prudence, indeed will dictate that changes should not 
be made for light and transient causes and Pennsylvania 
history for more than a generation shows that the citizen¬ 
ship of the State is more disposed to suffer many and 
grievous evils, than to right them by abolishing the forms, 
to which they have been accustomed. 

“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, 
pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a disposition 
and desire to hold them under absolute despotism, it is 
their duty to cast out such a tyrant and to demand and 
secure better conditions, in order to more thoroughly safe¬ 
guard the future. 

“Such has been the patient sufferance of the people of 
Pennsylvania and such is now the necessity which constrains 
them to strike an effective blow at the political conditions 
which are so menacing to the rights and liberties of every 
citizen/’ 

That sounds familiar, doesn’t it? It is almost exactly 
the text of the immortal declaration read at Fourth of July 
outbursts of patriotism. But to continue. 

“The history of the domination of the “Machine” in 

* 

this State is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, 


128 


all having in direct object, the establishment of an absolute 
tyranny over the people. To prove this let facts be sub¬ 
mitted to candid men. 


“It bas refused to permit the passage of laws for the 
public good and has forced in the most high handed manner 
the passage of laws of vicious tendencies. 

“It has made the judiciary of the State dependent upon 
its power and has thus invaded and defiled the very seats 
of Justice. 


“It has erected and established a multitude of new 
offices and has placed swarms of officials in useless positions 
to harass the people and eat their substance. 

“It has kept among us a military force of State con¬ 
stabulary, making the military in reality superior to the 
civil power. 

“It has imposed taxes upon us which are absolutely 
unjust and inequitable, bearing more heavily upon the men 
of small means than upon the possessor of millions. 

“It has refused the right of self government and home 
rule to cities and municipalities within our borders, scorn¬ 
ing the almost unanimous requests for rights which should 
be regarded as inherent. 


129 


“It has invaded the legislative machinery of the State 
to such an extent that the lawmaking body has become a 
perfected system of misrepresentation of the wishes of the 
people. 

“It has influenced the action of minority parties on 
vital occasions, thus preventing the people from the benefits 
which should accrue from two parties, honestly avowing and 
maintaining opposing principles and candidates.” 

a 

That still sounds familiar. It is the old but ever new 
Declaration of Independence. Continue through every line 
and the same strain of similarity is in evidence. Listen to 
the conclusion. 

“Therefore, the people of Pennsylvania solemnly pub¬ 
lish and declare that this State has the right to free and 
independent action; denounce the tyrannical control of the 
“Machine” and declare unceasing warfare against the cor¬ 
ruption and shameless debauchery, the secrecy and conceal¬ 
ment, which have not only shackled us in deep indignity, 
but has made the name of Pennsylvania a hissing and a 
byword in the nation. 

“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm 
reliance on the protection of the Divine Providence which 
eternally guides and guards the Right, and a firm and abid¬ 
ing faith in the honesty and patriotism of the manhood of 
Pennsylvania, we mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes 
and our sacred honor.” 


130 


Such a Declaration as that, carried out into practice, 
will, like the original Declaration of 1776, end tyrannical 
domination and make Pennsylvanians free men. 




131 


Chapter JIDUl 


EET the peopee ruee. 

“From each and all, if God hath not forsaken, 

Our land and left us to an evil choice, 

Loud as the summer thunderbolt shall waken, 

A people's voice. — Whittier. 

Broadly speaking, there are two classes in this State, 
with a clear dividing line between. On one side are the few, 
entrenched in official power, who desire special privileges 
for themselves and their friends, and on the other are the 
many, asking for no undue advantages but demanding a 
square deal, a fair field and no favors. 

Allied with the preying few, are those who do not 
believe in popular government. They believe that the people 
are not capable of passing upon legislation, or selecting all 


132 


of their servants. They believe that all public officials have 
powers inherent in themselves and that they are not servants 
of the people, in the sense of carrying out the people’s will. 


But these elements form a very small proportion of the 
citizenship of the State of Pennsylvania. That the people 
should rule in a republican form of government is the ac¬ 
cepted fact with every one in whom American principles are 
grounded. So general is this belief, as a theory at least, 

that it is not necessary to enter into an argument concerning 
the right of the people to rule themselves. 

The question then comes as to how they may secure 
that right. That they do not rule in a “machine” system of 
government even a pauper of observation will admit. If 
they did rule they would answer their own prayers for 
relief from oppressive conditions. In Pennsylvania, the 
people have been consistently betrayed and defrauded of their 
rights, through the complicated working of the “Machine,” 
depending upon corruption, fraud, secrecy and concealment. 

The demand of every patriotic freeman in Pennsylvania 
is to have Pennsylvania for all Pennsylvanians and not for a 
few officials who have combined in foul conspiracy to defraud 
the rest. 

In order to have the motto, “government, of the people 
for the people and by the people,” become a reality in Penn¬ 
sylvania it is necessary for the people to get back into their 


133 


own hands the machinery of government. To accomplish 
that consummation, direct legislation is the only solution. 
Direct legislation by the people consists in the principles of 
the Initiative and Referendum, which will be a leading issue 
in this State until put into operation. 

When these names are mentioned many persons look 
askance as though they were wild and weird theories, whose 
merits were vague and uncertain. The fact is that they are 
universally followed wherever men are gathered together 
for the transaction of parlimentary business. Through 
them self government is secured in any assembly, and with¬ 
out them business could not be conducted. 

In a parlimentary body, if a member desires certain 
action, he makes a motion to that effect, which, if seconded, 
comes before the body for action. That is the Initiative and 
is secured by but two members of the body. The majority 
vote of the body decides the question and the action becomes 
the will of the assembly. 

When the chairman of a parlimentary body makes a 
decision which does not meet with the approval of certain 
of the members, an appeal is taken. The majority decides 
whether or not the appeal shall be sustained. That is the 
Referendum. It is simply giving the people, the sovereign 
power of the State, the right of appeal from the decisions 
of its law making body. 

The Initiative and Referendum would extend the work- 


134 


ings of such a system to the body of the citizenship. That 
is, if the machinery of legislation as expressed in legislative 
bodies, does not produce desired results, the creator of those 
bodies, the people, can act directly. Without such a power 
the people are helpless and must submit to the tyranny of 
the few who have a monopoly of legislation. 


The Initiative and Referendum would give a per¬ 
centage of the voters of the State, the power to prepare and 
present bills to the whole body of the voters. It would give 
the people the power, expressed in a petition, to review acts 
of legislation passed by the legislature. In each case a 
large number of seconders would be required and a majority 
vote would decide. It is exactly the same principle as the 
making of a motion or taking of an appeal in a parlimentary 
body. It is simply the application to public affairs of those 
methods which have been universally proven to accomplish 
the end desired and that end is the will of the whole body, 
self government. And those who say the people are not 
capable of self government have no place in the American 
plan of government. 

These principles put into operation would not do away 
with representative government, they would perfect repre¬ 
sentative government. They would bring the representative 
under the control of his constituents. Often a representative 
is honestly opposed to the will of his constituents on one 
measure while in hearty accord on others. Under the Initia¬ 
tive and Referendum the people can have the services of the 


135 


official they desire and at the same time secure the adoption 
of the policy they prefer. 


But it is not the writer’s intention to enter upon an 
exhaustive argument for the Initiative and Referendum from 
its many viewpoints. That has been done before and will 
be done again. The claim made here is that the Initiative 
and Referendum will end the “Machine” control of legisla¬ 
tion. It will end the pigeonholing and smothering of good 
bills in committee. It will defy the tyranny of the gavel, 
the caucus, the star chamber secrecy and in fact the 
multitudinous obstructions that thwart the people’s will. 
Legislators will be more careful when they know the people 
can reverse their measures. It will be scarcely worth while 
to purchase or browbeat the passage of laws which may be 
vetoed by the people. The fact is, under the Initiative and 
Referendum, the “Machine” cannot deliver the goods. 


The present system of placing unlimited power in the 
hands of a lawmaking body is entirely unbusiness like and 
absurd. No business man would give to a set of agents, 
complete control of his business for two years and have no 
power to rescind their acts. If he gave such irrevocable 
power of attorney to his agents every two years and changed 
his agents each time, it is not hard to imagine what would 
become of his property. 


The “Machine” is bitterly opposed to the Initiative 
and Referendum, because it marks its doom. It is the gate- 


136 


way reform, through which the Recall, Direct Primaries, 
Corrupt Practices Act, and others needed to assure the rule 
of the people and cleanse the Augean stables of Pennsylvania 
politics, may be secured. 

The hostility which it aroused in the Legislature of 
1911 is sufficient evidence of the attitude of the “Machine.” 
But in spite of its opposition the Initiative and Referendum 
are destined to triumph. These Golgothas of defeat will 
end in final victory for the principle they contain is just 
and right and is in accord with the eternal spirit of Pro¬ 
gress, of steps onward and upward. 

The text of the Constitutional Amendment as introduced 
by the writer in 1911 and which embodies the State wide 
Initiative and Referendum on the plan which has proved 
successful in many States is as follows: 

JOINT RESOLUTION. 

Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate 
concurring, that the following amendment to the constitu¬ 
tion of the State of Pennsylvania be and the same is hereby 
proposed. 


ARTICLE I. 

Section I. The legislative powers of this Common¬ 
wealth shall be vested in a General Assembly, which shall 


137 


consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives, but 
the people reserve to themselves power to propose laws and 
amendments to the constitution and to enact or reject the 
same at the polls, independent of the General Assembly, and 
also reserve power at their own option to approve or reject 
at the polls any act of the General Assembly. 


The first power reserved by the people is the Initiative 
and not more than eight per cent of the legal voters shall 
be required to propose any measure by such petition, and 
every such petition shall include the full text of the measure 
so proposed. Initiative petitions shall be filed with the 
Secretary of State not less than four months before the 
election at which they are to be voted upon. 


The second power is the Referendum and it may be 
ordered, (except upon laws necessary for the immediate 
preservation of the public .peace, health or safety), either 
by the petition signed by five per cent of the legal voters, 
or by the Legislature, as other laws are enacted. Refer¬ 
endum petitions shall be filed with the Secretary of State 
not more than ninety days after the final adjournment of 
the session of the General Assembly which passed the bill 
on which the Referendum is demanded. The veto power of 
the Governor shall not extend to measures referred to the 
people. All elections on measures referred to the people of 
the State shall be had at the biennial regular general elec¬ 
tions, except when the Legislature shall order a special 
election. Any measures referred to the people shall take 


138 


effect and become the law when it is approved by a majority 
of the votes cast thereon and not otherwise. 

'The style of all bills shall be: “Be it enacted by the 
people of the State of Pennsylvania.” This section shall 
not be construed to deprive any member of the General 
Assembly of the right to introduce any measure. The whole 
number of votes cast for Governor at the regular election 
last preceding the filing of any petition for the Initiative 
or the Referendum shall be the basis on which the number 
of legal voters necessary to sign such petition shall be 
counted. 

Petitions and orders for the Initiative and for the 
Referendum shall be filed with the Secretary of State, and 
in submitting the same to the people, he and all other 
officers, shall be guided by the general election laws and 
the act submitting this amendment, until legislation shall 
be especially provided therefor. 

The Referendum may be demanded by the people 
against one or more items, sections, or parts of any act of 
the General Assembly in the manner in which such power may 
be exercised against a complete act. The filing of a Refer¬ 
endum petition against one or more items, sections, or 
parts of an act shall not delay the remainder from becoming 
operative. The Initiative and Referendum powers reserved 
to the people by this constitution are hereby further reserved 
to the legal voters of every municipality and district, as to 
all local, special and municipal legislation, of every character, 


139 


in or for their respective municipalities and districts. The 
manner of exercising such powers shall be prescribed by 
general laws, except that cities and boroughs may provide 
for the manner of exercising the Initiative and Referendum 
powers as to their municipal legislation. Not more than 
ten per cent of the legal voters shall be required to order the 
Referendum nor more than fifteen per cent to propose any 
measure, by the Initiative, in any city or borough. 


140 


Chapter 

trumpet calls to action. 

“Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn. 

Look to this day. 

For it is Life, the very Life of Life. 

In its brief course lie all 

The Verities and Realities of your Existence. 

The Bliss of Growth, 

The Glory of Action, 

The splendor of Beauty. 

For yesterday is but a dream, 

And tomorrow is only a vision; 

But today well lived 

Makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, 

And every tomorrow a vision of hope. 

Look well, therefore, to this day. 

Such is the Salutation of the Dawn. 

—From the Sanscrit. 


141 


Listen. Out of the distance comes a clarion note. It 
calls on Pennsylvania citizens to exercise their rights and 
privileges and take that active interest in political affairs 
which is their solemn and sacred duty. 

A well known writer on reform, has said: “The prob¬ 
lem of better government is perfectly simple and entirely 
practicable. All that is necessary is that the people, the 
intelligent and fairly reputable people, shall desire it more 
than they desire money or party success, or a comfortable 
time, and shall make up their minds that they will have it, 
even though they may get a little less money and lose some 
prestige for their party and put themselves to some incon¬ 
venience and discomfort. That is the whole question in a 
nutshell. The people with whom the responsibility rests, 
shirk it, therefore it falls into the hands of those who are 
not fitted for the duty. The reason we have bad govern¬ 
ment is simply because the governors don't and wont 
govern.” 

While perhaps that writer did not consider a situa¬ 
tion like that in Philadelphia, where the good people had 
to overcome an army of 35,000 “phantoms,” the fact re¬ 
mains that one of the greatest handicaps in efforts for re¬ 
form is the difficulty in arousing the average voter to the 
understanding that the remedy for abuse lies in his own 
hands. If every patriotic and right thinking citizen of 
Pennsylvania would take the interest in politics duty de¬ 
mands, many of the candidates who now appear before the 
people with such brazen effrontery would have to seek the 


142 


aid of a purification plant. Politicians who had not been 
generously sprinkled with chloride of lime, would be shunned 
by the respectable voter, through fear of carrying some' 
thing home to the family. 

One of the most pathetic things ever witnessed in 
Pennsylvania was seen when the churches of Pittsburgh 
set aside a day of prayer, when the people were summoned 
to the houses of worship, to pray to be delivered from graf¬ 
ters. It was pathetic because a great city was placed in the 
attitude of a helpless victim of looters and plunderers. 

There are no objections to a day of prayer, but it 
would have been far better in this instance if there had 
been a few more pre-election prayers in the sense of recog¬ 
nizing the sanctity of the ballot and the duty of casting it 
in the right way. Prayers made necessary by such neglect 
must have difficulty in ascending to the Throne on High, 
through the dark mists and lowering clouds which envelop 
a city or state where the duty God requires of man is so 
forgotten. 

The bugle call of duty summons every lover of good 
government to take an active interest in politics, to vote at 
every election, and especially the primary, where the first 
and most important act of political obligation takes place. 

But the trumpet sounds again, and this time its call is 
to Pennsylvania citizens to not only vote, but vote as their 
consciences dictate, regardless of party. The patriotic citi- 


143 


zen will go with his party as long as it keeps in the straight 
road of right, but if it turns into the byways he will go 
straight ahead. He will be partisan enough to like to vote 
his own ticket if he can, but just independent enough to 
vote the other man’s if it suits him better. He will 
realize that the only straight ticket he is justified in voting 
is the ticket with all the crooked names scratched off. 

But if the citizen votes and votes right, his duty is not 
completed. He must watch his Representatives. That is the 
most neglected duty of all, and it is in a large measure re¬ 
sponsible for political corruption and betrayal of the people’s 
rights. The people under a popular government must know 
what their Representatives are doing and how they are 
doing it. 

We will admit that it is a difficult task, but no task 
worth while ever was easy. This is the most important task 
to which a citizen can set himself, and the most business¬ 
like thing he can do is to learn what his agents are doing 
and place condemnation or credit where it belongs. 

One source of information of legislative proceedings 
at Harrisburg is the Legislative Journal, published daily, and 
containing an account of the proceedings. It can be se¬ 
cured through your Representative, and a dozen men and 
more may have the use of the same copy. It contains roll 
calls, etc., which show the attitude of the Representatives, 
information which every citizen should have for his own 
protection. 


144 


But if the Legislative Journal is not available, there 
are the newspapers. Some of them do not publish the 

news the people want to read, but it is a safe assertion that 
few newspapers in the state would refuse the request of any 
large number of its subscribers to cover the legislative hap¬ 
penings during a session. As Lincoln Steffens has said, 

““The press would be reformed mighty quick if the readers 
of any paper would write individual letters to the -editor, 

send him in group and mass petitions and resolutions, de¬ 
manding that ‘their’ paper tell them just what they want 
to know about their legislature.'’ 

Then there are letters to the Representatives them¬ 

selves. The people cannot blame a man at Harrisburg if 
he becomes neglectful of their interests, when he sees them 
sublimely indifferent to their own. Watch the Representative. 
Let him know his actions are observed and that he will get 
credit for carrying out the will of the people and just as 
surely condemned if he fails to do that duty. 

These are some of the ways in which the people may 

know the truth and that is all that is needed. The light 

of publicity is the cure for most political ills. And the people 
must see that the cure is applied. 


145 


Conclusion 


I have felt it my bounden duty to give to the people 
the facts contained in this labor of love. My faith in the 
people is not a political plank, it is a religious conviction. I 
believe that if the people cannot be trusted to govern them¬ 
selves, then our entire plan of government is a collossal 
blunder. But it is not a blunder, the sovereignty of all 
the people, is an ideal implanted in the minds and hearts of 
men by God Himself, and down through the centuries that 
ideal has been growing clearer and more distinct. 

I have all faith in the people of this state, and I am 
willing to trust them to solve every question that may 
come before them as the years come and go. I believe that 
if they are given a free opportunity of expression, the solu¬ 
tion will be right, for they will never consider a question 
settled until it is settled right. I believe that the people of 
Pennsylvania will some sure day, take their inherent rights 
into their hands, and when they do the accumulated wrongs 
and errors and corrupting devices that have cursed the state 

y 


146 




so long, will disappear before them like the mists before 
the rays of the morning sun. 

Across the years I see a state redeemed from its ills, 
a people freed from the bondage placed by traitorous hands, 
a Commonwealth returned from its mad worship of unholy 
power, a citizenship, free and liberty loving as in the days 
when its founder first flew aloft the banner of Righteous¬ 
ness, the standard of Brotherly Love. 

I see it glowing in the light of a golden age, whose 
gleam is of the dawn and not the sunset, where whatso¬ 
ever things are honest, pure and of good repute have van¬ 
quished and overcome the evil, the degrading, the enslav¬ 
ing. In all its thronging cities and towns and over its 
mountains and valleys, Justice holds the scale, and Truth 
divides the right from the wrong so clearly that all may see 
and judge. 

Its yesterday has gone never to return, the yesterday 
of corruption and the triumph of evil power, when trea¬ 
sonable conspiracies, unseen and unnoted, measured out 
oppression, injustice and wrong. 

I see a state that is worthy of the name of Keystone 
in the temple of the Republic, a state that has become an 
example to honor and patriotic purpose, where the will 
of the people, no longer throttled and fettered, has be¬ 
come indeed the voice of God, leading on to nobler aspira- 


147 


tions and building deeper the foundations and broader the 
walls of a transformed and glorified commonwealth. 

Over and above it floats the banner of the stars, the 
fairest emblem ever kissed by vagrant winds, an emblem 
that is full of meaning in its trinity of color as it speaks 
of Truth, Justice and Humanity. 

If by any effort of mine I may hasten by a moment 
the coming of that day, it will bring a sense of triumph 
that shall outreach and overarch the bitterness of every de¬ 
feat, the memory of every failure. 


148 


THE END. 


149 


OCT 17 1912 



PRESS OF PERCY 
PITTSBURGH, 


?. SMITH 
PA. 






























































































































































































































